


More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Skyfire

by Archaeopteryx_Feather



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Essays, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archaeopteryx_Feather/pseuds/Archaeopteryx_Feather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A speculative essay about Skyfire's life, personal character, and relationships.  Also discusses preWar Starscream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Skyfire

**Author's Note:**

> Skyfire is my favorite character and I thought that he deserved a good toy, more screentime, and a role in the show beyond being a flying taxi. But in lieu of all that, this essay will have to suffice. If you are interested in Skyfire's character, life, and friendship with Starscream, you can expect a thorough discussion here. By necessity, much of the material covered consists of deductions that are based on the minimal facts which were provided in the cartoon; the reader is encouraged to exercise their own judgment and draw their own conclusions from the canonical (or fanonical) facts presented. Certain parts of this essay are intended simply as an informational resource, and may be safely skipped over unless one has a burning interest in, say, character foils, animation mistakes, or the motifs in Skyfire's paint job. My hope in writing this is that you, the reader, may satiate your curiosity about a humble and ignored character in the Transformers universe, and that you, the writer, may improve your fanfiction by gaining insight into the personality, motivations, and abilities of Skyfire.

 

 

Skyfire appears in the bolded episodes:

**7 Fire in the Sky (in which he shows up and then gets buried in ice again)**

8 S.O.S. Dinobots

**9 Fire on the Mountain (in which he reappears)**

10 War of the Dinobots

11 The Ultimate Doom Part 1

**12 The Ultimate Doom Part 2 (in which he goes to Cybertron to save Sparkplug from hypnochip mind control)**

**13 The Ultimate Doom Part 3 (in which he brings everyone back to Earth)**

14 Countdown to Extinction

15 Heavy Metal War

**16 A Plague of Insecticons (in which he fights the Insecticons)**

17 Autobot Spike

18 Changing Gears

19 City of Steel

**20 Attack of the Autobots (in which he gets reprogrammed to be evil)**

21 Traitor

**22 The Immobilizer (in which he briefly carries Ironhide)**

23 The Autobot Run

24 Atlantis, Arise!

**25 Day of the Machines (in which he gets captured by the Decepticons)**

 

When an inquisitive archaeologist finds himself with a scarcity of facts and an abundance of questions, it becomes necessary to make use of deduction and inference, the tools of the theorist. Using these simple tools, a scientist can take tiny hints--a dead insect found in a tomb, a fragment of parchment, some grains of corn pollen discovered near a settlement--and use them to draw broad conclusions about the past. Far from being established fact, this suppositional knowledge takes the form of theories and speculations that proceed one out of another to create an entire hanging mobile of branching conclusions that dangles from the string of a tiny, seemingly insignificant fact.

The student of the Transformers canon finds him or herself in a similar position to such an archaeologist; little in depth information is available about the lives and relationships of the characters on the show, and often what is known merely creates more questions. Thus, like an archaeologist of the fictional realm, the curious fan must make use of the theorist's tools of deduction and inference--along with careful study--to probe at the unsolved mysteries of the canonical universe. It is in this spirit that I offer the following essay.

Little is known about Skyfire's early life beyond the fact that he was an explorer during the Golden Age of Cybertron, 9 million years ago. We know this date because in the episode "Fire in the Sky," Megatron speculates that the scenes shown on Skyfire's memory monitor must have occurred just before the Decepticons had their "falling out" with the Autobots. This event occurred approximately 9 million years ago, as established in the episode "War Dawn." In fandom, Skyfire is often associated with the (fan created) Science Academy, and it is popularly speculated that Skyfire met Starscream when the latter was a student there. In this widely-accepted scenario, Skyfire is depicted either as a researcher, a faculty member, or a fellow student. And indeed, Skyfire sees his function as that of a scientist and teacher, noting in the episode "Fire in the Sky" that, "My purpose is to further science and learning, not to destroy innocent lifeforms," and "...I'm a scientist, not an executioner!" If we allow that Skyfire was indeed associated with the Science Academy (or some other scientific institution, but for lack of a better name I'll refer to it as the Science Academy from here on) at some point, it is probable given his self description that he was a teacher and researcher there. Did he ever attend the Science Academy himself as a student? Perhaps so, and this raises the question of what Skyfire was originally designed for. His body shell is that of a spacegoing cargo transport (evidence against the fact that he is a fighter jet will be presented later), a design not exactly conducive to a teaching career. Among the science-oriented Autobots, Perceptor is a microscope, Beachcomber is an off-road dune buggy, Wheeljack is your average car, and Skyfire is a gigantic jet with tons of interior space. Presumably the only reason for being a gigantic jet is to transport large amounts of stuff around. Did Skyfire begin his life as an interstellar version of Long Haul, only to later discover that he enjoyed science and teaching? Or was he rebuilt for a career in exploration?

For lack of a better idea, let us assume that Skyfire was "born" as a cargo jet. The question then is, who created him, and why? Skyfire's body shell reveals several important clues. First of all, his body shell was probably expensive to produce. To get an idea of just how much his production would have cost, consider the Boeing 747-8f, a top of the line air freighter, which costs $320,000,000 for one jet. (By comparison, an F-22 Raptor costs only $150,000,000, about half as much.) Although Cybertronians could undoubtedly build a cargo jet more cheaply than Boeing, the fact remains that Skyfire is no $30,000 family car.

We are left with the conclusion that only people with deep pockets could afford to create Skyfire. An airline or a government likely footed the manufacturer's bill, and statistically speaking, an airline is the more likely option. But what sort of airline might this be? What did they do?

Once again, the answer lies in Skyfire's body shell. When an airplane is manufactured, it is typically designed with a certain travel range in mind-i.e. local, regional, or intercontinental. A globetrotting jet is built differently than a local jet, and they are used on different types of missions by different types of clients.

Skyfire is evidently a fairly long range jet, since he is capable of interstellar (and even intergalactic) travel; thus, the company he was built by probably ran cargo or passengers from Cybertron to other solar systems. A young Skyfire was likely exposed to alien cultures early on, kindling an interest that would eventually culminate in his exploration career. These long distance missions would also have taught Skyfire something about the practical side of travel.

Another indication that Skyfire was built for long range space travel is shown by the fact that his body shell is not streamlined or smooth. This implies that his designers weren't concerned about atmospheric drag. (Space vehicles don't need to worry about air resistance.) Skyfire's typical working environment was evidently the vacuum of space, not the atmosphere of Cybertron.

Did Skyfire's "parent company" deal primarily with cargo, or with passengers? The question is not as simple as one might think, and it cannot be answered by Skyfire's body shell. Many jets can be converted from passenger use to cargo or tanker use simply by removing the seats and strengthening the floorboards (to carry extra weight). Frequently, jets will start off life as passenger liners, only to be converted to cargo use when they get old. In addition, "combi jets" carry a combination of passengers _and_ cargo. The issue is further muddled by the fact that if Skyfire had been fitted to carry passengers, he would have undoubtedly been retrofitted to carry cargo as an explorer.

In the end, all we can really say is that Skyfire could have done both. At one point he admonishes the Autobots in his hold to fasten their seat belts; this seems like the sort of thing a stewardess might say, so it's not unlikely that he carried passengers on at least a few occasions. Nonetheless, the fact that he was always carrying around Autobots in his hold doesn't imply that he carried passengers as a fulltime profession before becoming a scientist.

It is interesting to note that the idea of Skyfire working for a cargo/passenger company is at odds with the "naive, idealistic scientist" portrayal he is often stuck with. Here we have a working mech who grew up surrounded by customs agents, cargo loaders, flight attendants and other jumbo jets. Against this background, the question of how Skyfire eventually got to the Science Academy is intriguing, to say the least. Why did he decide to leave? Was he dissatisfied with his job as a freighter/passenger liner for some reason? For example, could he have been unhappy about the constant traveling and the frequent absences from home, a common pilot complaint? Such absences would have made it harder for him to develop long-term relationships, particularly if they lasted for weeks on end. But then again, Skyfire might not even have been dissatisfied at all; he may have simply wished for better things, aka a life of science.

I believe that the primary reason Skyfire left his job was that it didn't offer enough personal meaning and intellectual stimulation. At some point the hunger for these things must have grown too deep to be denied, and this led him to enroll at the Science Academy.

Once at the Academy, Skyfire evidently stuck to his scientific career long enough to become a teacher and researcher. For a human, this would mean eight years of college attendance and a PhD, but it is unlikely that the Cybertronian education system mirrors our own. Unlike humans, Cybertronians can upload and delete memories instantaneously ("Transport to Oblivion"), and even upgrade their own brains to make themselves smarter ("S.O.S. Dinobots"). Thus it seems unlikely that Cybertronian education requires extensive memorization of facts. What the Cybertronian educational system likely entails is either hands-on experience aimed at getting a job or cutting-edge research aimed at a career in science.

To become a teacher, Skyfire would need to have put in time as a teacher's assistant or a personal tutor. Or, if he did not go immediately into academia, he might have worked in the industry. For instance, if he studied geology, he might have worked at a mine, or on a survey crew, or in an analysis lab.

Whatever Skyfire did after finishing his time at the Science Academy, he must have decided to become a teacher at some point. I visualize him publishing papers, dragging his students off on field trips, and doing exciting research in his chosen field.

But there must have remained some hidden longing for the exotic locales he enjoyed as an interstellar transport vessel. When the opportunity presented itself to return to deep space as an explorer, he dropped his teaching career and left home and friends to strike out into the unknown.

Skyfire's job as an explorer provides some fascinating insights into his character. To begin with, the profession of "explorer" is rather unusual in itself. How many people would willingly head off into unknown space with just one other person for company? (Omega Supreme and the Constructicons come to mind as a close parallel, but their travels through space together were hardly voluntary.) And unlike Omega, Skyfire apparently likes his job; when he is shown (on the memory monitor in "Fire in the Sky") leaving the surface of Cybertron with Starscream to go exploring, he does a barrel roll as he takes off--hardly the act of someone being dragged kicking and screaming to work.

If we were to examine the profession of "explorer" as we might examine the job of "doctor" or "journalist," what traits would we associate with that profession? The most obvious characteristic that leaps out is a high degree of self sufficiency. With only the help of Starscream, Skyfire would have to meet all of their basic physical and psychological needs. This entails producing energy, doing maintenance, and maintaining morale as well as carrying out the daily work that a full-time job in science would entail. If something were to break down--a piece of scientific equipment, a piece of Starscream, a piece of himself--Skyfire would need to be able to carry out repairs on the broken part with just the equipment and knowledge at hand. He would need to bring or make all his own food, gear, and tools. There would be no backup, no medic, nothing but what he and Starscream had with them.

The willingness to shoulder such a responsibility implies a high degree of self confidence in one's knowledge and abilities, and indeed, Skyfire seems to have a self assured personality, rising to meet whatever challenges the occasion presents. Repairing broken devices from scratch also implies a certain knack for juryrigging things, a unique skill that requires creative ingenuity and a capacity for thinking outside of the box. So we see that an explorer should be self sufficient, confident in his abilities, and able to improvise--all traits we see in _Starscream_ and which should presumably exist in Skyfire as well.

But what was Skyfire's motivation for going exploring in the first place? Certainly there is his background as a cargo jet, but why would he want to go out into the dangerous unknown? There are many possibilities. One of the most obvious ones is that he enjoys discovering new things and adding to the Cybertronians' body of knowledge; this is fairly obvious given his self description as a scientist. A possible secondary motivation may be that he likes a certain amount of challenge or adventure in his life. This was certainly a motivation for Starscream, who enthusiastically tells Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky" that being a warrior is "far more exciting" than being a scientist. Exploration would probably have been one of the most exciting career options open to Starscream and Skyfire in the world of science, but apparently even that wasn't exciting enough for Starscream.

Another possibility is that Skyfire considered Starscream his protege; he may have been motivated by the intrinsic reward of mentoring him. Teachers feel a sense of satisfaction at making a lasting contribution to others' lives; they enjoy watching their students learn and grow. It is possible that Skyfire found the activity of building Starscream up and teaching him to be a pleasant and satisfying activity. (The reader is referred to the works of kidu for fanfic that showcases this idea.)

One last possibility is that Skyfire was exploring as a job to earn money. Did Skyfire and Starscream get paid anything for their work? I would guess that the answer is "yes." The data that he and Starscream collected would have been valuable to energy or mineral exploration companies, although I doubt that seeking such information was their only or primary goal--there are much easier and less risky ways to get rich, and Skyfire does not see himself as a prospector or scout but as a scientist. Still, he and Starscream probably reaped some monetary rewards along with their intrinsic rewards. This money would be necessary to pay their taxes, maintain a decent lifestyle during their time on Cybertron, etc. Then again, they may have been funded by government or industry grants, or even crowdfunded by interested citizens.

As an explorer, Skyfire's main activity would have been to study the places, people, and things he encountered in order to collect useful data about them. To do this successfully, he would need broad knowledge in the areas of geology, xenology (the study of alien life), and what we anthropocentrically know on Earth as anthropology--the study of other peoples and cultures.

Geology would probably be the most useful everyday skill for him, given the probable rarity of alien life and the probable super-rarity of intelligent alien life. A knowledge of geology presumes some knowledge of chemistry and physics, so he would need to have a practical understanding of those fields as well. Of secondary usefulness to him would be a knowledge of life in general, including everything from plants to animals to animal behavior to microorganisms to ecological systems.

Skyfire would occasionally need to interact with intelligent aliens, which would require a knowledge of linguistics, the ability to make successful first contact, and an understanding and appreciation for other species' cultures and customs. Skyfire hoped to find intelligent life on Earth, but he was at least three million years too early (the first known bipedal human ancestor showed up 5-6 million years ago, well after the time he and Starscream arrived). So, in addition to an interest in sentient aliens, Skyfire likely has broad knowledge in the natural and sociological sciences.

In fanfics, however, Skyfire is often pigeonholed as a "scientist," which usually seems to denote a person who works in a laboratory with either chemicals or inventions. But in light of his specializations and previous experience, it would probably be more accurate to depict Skyfire doing anthropological studies on remote South American tribes, or documenting deep sea life, or scouting out the geology around Autobot H.Q. or even Alpha Centauri (assuming he hadn't visited that system on his way to Earth prior to crashing). Rather than spending most of his time in a lab, he would probably be out and about, gathering data in the field as he did as an explorer.

While Skyfire would need to have knowledge of maintenance and repair in order to venture forth into the unknown without access to medics or technicians, this does not necessarily imply that he understands Cybertronian engineering to the extent that (say) Wheeljack does. In the episode "Fire on the Mountain," he is seen with Wheeljack holding the cap over the "energy geyser" that is erupting out of the Incan pyramid. But Spike implies that the device is Wheeljack's invention, and Skyfire congratulates Wheeljack on it too, agreeing with Spike. Skyfire is not otherwise shown to have any particular talent in the field of engineering, and given that his knowledge of the subject would have been nine million years out of date it is doubtful that he could have made useful new contributions (such as inventions) in that field. Skyfire's knowledge and interests probably lie mainly with the natural and biological sciences.

Skyfire is a "gentle giant"--an archetypal character who is big, strong and powerful but also gentle, quiet, warm-hearted and polite (and often dumb, but Skyfire is an exception to this). Gentle giants tend to dislike violence and fighting, although if they are driven to it their size and power make them formidable adversaries. This archetype fits Skyfire to a tee. He was the biggest single Transformer on the show during the time he remained, but despite his size he was also one of the most pleasant, cheerful, positive, obliging, considerate and just plain nice Autobots on the team. He is often shown thanking the other Autobots or apologizing for mistakes, and he always sounds happy to help. He is gentle and courteous with smaller Transformers; in "A Plague of Insecticons," he catches Sideswipe, who is flying through the air after being smacked by Megatron, and says, "That's no way to travel, little fella," then sets him down on his feet. On another occasion, in "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," he almost slams Brawn in his bay door when he closes it. He immediately apologizes, then carefully helps a scowling Brawn back to his feet. Like the gentle being he is, Skyfire is reluctant to fight; when he is alone and talking to himself in "Fire in the Sky, he observes in a serious, regretful tone, "It appears the time has come to make the change from science to war." In spite of the positive, enthusiastic nature he usually displays, he evidently takes the idea of war quite seriously and doesn't care much for being involved with it.

Skyfire's disinclination towards fighting bears further examination. This tendency probably stems from three sources: a personal philosophy of nonviolence, a life spent primarily as a civilian in peacetime, and the simple fear of winding up dead. The first reason for his lack of motivation, a personal philosophy of nonviolence, is a trait inherent in his character as well as a product of his life experiences in a nonviolent world. It's in Skyfire's value system to be gentle and amiable rather than aggressive and feisty, and he has to overcome this personal inhibition when he strikes out at other transformers with the intent of wounding and/or killing them. Adding to this natural disinclination is the fact that up till the moment he woke up with a bunch of Decepticons surrounding him in "Fire in the Sky," he had lived a life of peace during the Golden Age. While the other Autobots had been at war for years and had lost their inhibitions (even to the point of relishing their enemies' admittedly well-deserved suffering), Skyfire had been at peace for years, and the psychological adjustment to fighting against other Cybertronians was probably hard for him to make.

This becomes more obvious once you consider all the training and preparation that a soldier has to go through to enable them to deliberately, intentionally, and willfully kill another human being, an action that in peacetime would be censured with the most stringent punishment possible. All sorts of ingrained prohibitions against violence must be broken down, from the scolding of parents ("Don't hit your little brother!") to moral imperatives such as, "Thou shalt not kill." And even all this training may not be enough. As tank commander David Kuzminski observed, "You'll also have a problem with soldiers who aren't ready to kill. This is well documented. Only a small portion of a unit is at that point where it's willing to shoot to kill. Others are only at the point where they'll shoot, but only to look like they're participating but without trying to actually kill or wound anyone. There are others who won't even fire a round because they don't want to even chance hitting someone. Leaders sometimes put up with that because their [the nonshooting individuals'] presence insulates the individuals who are willing to kill. More often, it's because there's no way to know who is willing and who isn't until after the first battle. Even then, unless it's reported that certain individuals didn't fight, it's unlikely that they'll be discovered since most soldiers are too busy protecting themselves and don't have the time to observe everyone else." Since Skyfire had received no training at all before the events of "Fire in the Sky" and "Fire on the Mountain," he was understandably reluctant to harm others.

We see this reluctance in how he psychs himself up to fight. In "Fire in the Sky," Skyfire is on guard patrol as per Megatron's orders. When he unexpectedly meets the Autobots, he exclaims, "Autobots! You must be destroyed!" I get the feeling from his tone of voice that his intention in saying this was not primarily to intimidate the Autobots, but rather to force himself to perform an act of violence that he was not yet psychologically prepared to commit. Note also that he doesn't say, "I must destroy them!" Instead, he addresses his words to the Autobots themselves ("You must be destroyed!"), in effect warning them of his intentions. Why would he warn his enemies of his plans for them? I think it was because he secretly hoped that they would take warning and run away. His desire not to cause harm and his orders to destroy the Autobots were in conflict, and he hoped (possibly subconsciously) to resolve the difference in such a way that he wouldn't have to kill the Autobots. In addition, it probably did not seem natural to him at that point for Autobots to shoot at Decepticons on sight or vice versa, and some sort of announcement seemed in order to initiate the hostilities--a kind of formal declaration of war to let the Autobots know of his intentions, so to speak.

On another occasion, in "Fire on the Mountain," Skyfire psychs himself up in a similar way, this time to destroy a Decepticon weapons emplacement which is under guard by Starscream and Thundercracker. Skyfire tells himself, "I must destroy their new weapon," apparently trying to encourage himself to act. Of course, destroying the weapons emplacement would have instantly revealed his presence and initiated a life and death struggle with the two Seekers guarding it (one of them his ex-friend), meaning that he would either be forced to commit violence upon them and/or risk receiving it himself, which he naturally had no desire for. Once again Skyfire was inhibited not only by his background and personality, but by a perfectly natural fear of death and damage. He knew that destroying the weapons emplacement would put his life in danger, and he had to coerce himself to perform the duty he told the Autobots he would do, just as he had to force himself to obey Megatron when he was with the Decepticons.

Skyfire shows more evidence of being afraid to die (and who isn't?) in "The Ultimate Doom Part 2." When he arrives on Cybertron, apparently for the first time in nine million years, he transforms very rapidly, almost catching Brawn in his door. He tells Brawn, "Sorry, guess I was a little too anxious to get on my feet." Apparently he felt vulnerable sitting there on the ground in jet mode and was nervous enough to neglect his passengers. Later on in the same episode, he stands around on Cybertron with his weapon drawn and in his hand, probably anticipating an attack from enemies whom he expected to have tracked his landing trajectory.

In light of all this, Skyfire's aggressive actions in "Fire in the Sky" and "Fire on the Mountain" become somewhat astounding. His entire personal history was urging him not to do what he was ordered to while his self preservation instinct was probably screaming something to the effect of "Run for your life Skyfire! They're trying to _kill you!_ " The fact that he managed to act in spite of these forces says something about his character, namely his unusually strong willpower. In spite of his fears and inhibitions, he still carried out his duty. Skyfire has great self control and he exercises it in the face of danger, fear, and natural abhorrence for inflicting suffering upon others.

However, one person I don't think Skyfire would mind inflicting violence upon is Megatron. The very first act that Skyfire saw Megatron do was to push his friend Starscream rudely to one side and declare himself to be the supreme leader of all Decepticons ("Fire in the Sky"). Megatron followed this claim up by declaring his intentions to conquer the universe, and finished by stating that the Autobots are now Skyfire's enemies. I doubt that Skyfire approved of conquering the universe, and he obviously wasn't too keen on fighting the Autobots either, so Megatron probably rubbed him the wrong way right from the beginning. (In fact, Skyfire probably wondered about Megatron's mental stability!)

We see this dislike for Megatron shown later on in "Fire in the Sky" where Skyfire strips off his Decepticon sigil and tells Megatron firmly, "I take no more orders from _you_." (Emphasis mine.) I think the way Skyfire phrased his declaration is significant--at this point he wasn't necessarily setting himself against the Decepticon faction so much as setting himself against Megatron personally. This grudge doesn't go away, either; as the Autobots rush into battle in the Ultimate Doom Part 3, Skyfire shouts, "Save Megatron for me!" I think that Skyfire places most of the blame for the bad things that happened while he was offline on Megatron's shoulders. Megatron is probably one of the few people Skyfire wouldn't regret harming.

But if Skyfire generally shuns violence because he dislikes harming others and fears death, then why is it that in "Fire on the Mountain," Bumblebee observes, "Sounds like a battle out there," and Skyfire cheerfully exclaims, "Then let's get involved!"? This is in extreme contrast to his earlier regretful attitude regarding his change from science to war, and the response becomes even more peculiar when one considers everything that Skyfire went through leading up to that moment: waking up nine million years in the future, learning that the Autobot and Decepticon factions have been at war the whole time and Cybertron is utterly devastated, getting shot at by the Autobots (who severely outnumbered him), seeing his two new human friends imprisoned for future termination and knowing that it was his fault for bringing them in, learning that his friend Starscream has become a genocidal murderer, being almost fatally shot by said friend, witnessing the violent (holographic) deaths of four other people, fighting in a battle against the Decepticons, fighting Starscream in the same battle, getting buried alive and frozen in ice for weeks (if not months), waking up and getting dragged off to the Andes Mountains only to have to save his two new Autobot friends from being killed by Megatron in a close-shave rescue, going alone to destroy a Decepticon weapons emplacement and getting ambushed by Thundercracker and then shot by Starscream _again_ , waking up to see Bumblebee being ravaged by Ravage and then having to save him--all this happens, and then when Bumblebee notes that a battle is going on, Skyfire enthusiastically says, "Let's get involved!" Either Skyfire is inhumanly cheerful and enthused despite all circumstances, or else he falls into that pattern of behavior naturally when under stress.

Judging by the Autobots' treatment of him in "Fire on the Mountain," I tend to favor the latter idea. Earlier in the episode, when Skyfire is at the Autobot base, we see Optimus Prime with his arm draped over Skyfire's nose, giving him a friendly pat on the hull. Elsewhere, on the trip from the Autobot base to the Andes, Brawn is unusually pleasant and nice, and later on that same trip Brawn and Windcharger go off to fight Megatron and Soundwave alone, telling Skyfire that they don't need his help in spite of the fact that they are clearly outclassed (Megatron laughs at the threat they present and they eventually have to call Skyfire back to make their escape). Presumably the reason for all this consideration is that they thought Skyfire wasn't doing very well emotionally speaking and didn't want to put him through anything more unless it was absolutely necessary.

But you would never know this from Skyfire's behavior during "Fire on the Mountain." In fact, by listening to him you'd probably think that he was positively delighted by the prospect of going into battle. Why is this? The most likely explanation is that Skyfire simply pretends to be okay when he's not. A similar example can be found in the customer service industry: You might have an overworked employee who has had a crumby day, loathes his boss, and just wants to go home and crawl in bed--but when a customer calls, he picks up the phone and says in a cheerful voice, "Hello, how may I help you?" In much the same way, Skyfire puts on a happy face for the world despite deep inner suffering.

One question we must ask is why Skyfire fights in the first place. Obviously he feels like he has no choice, since he can't exactly go back to Cybertron and lead a normal existence anymore. Equally obviously, he wants to stop evil deeds from being committed and to protect his new friends' lives. These two reasons probably account for the majority of his will to fight.

But more interesting are the reasons that _wouldn't_ motivate him. For example, unlike the rest of the Autobots, he probably is not motivated by justifications like "Because I was ordered to," or "Because I'm an Autobot and they're Decepticons and I hate Decepticons." In fact, Skyfire probably sees himself more as a dedicated volunteer (which he is) rather than a draftee, with the implication being that he can leave whenever he wants to. This appears to be standard practice among the Autobots; at one point Ironhide announces that he's retiring from active duty and no objection was raised to it ("The Immobilizer"). In fact, Skyfire volunteers for almost all the duties he undertakes as an Autobot; he tends to offer his services before anyone has a chance to ask for them or order him to provide them.

Faction loyalty to the Autobots with an identity-defining grudge against the Decepticons is probably not among Skyfire's motivations to fight either. It takes time to develop a sense of group pride, and the mere act of slapping on an Autobot symbol likely held as little weight (or more probably, even less weight) as putting on a Decepticon symbol did. Certainly, over the course of his short participation in the war, he may have grown into his Autobot identity and sympathized with the group as well as developing hostility towards the Decepticons, but originally he was a Neutral ("Fire in the Sky") and felt neither hate nor loyalty towards either faction. It is probable that during Cybertron's Golden Age Skyfire had both Autobot and Decepticon friends, and the idea of hating other transformers solely because they wear a different symbol may seem absurd to him (unless, of course, he unlearned this way of thinking during his time with the Autobots). Early on Skyfire probably didn't see himself as either pro-Autobot or anti-Decepticon; rather, he likely saw himself as pro-Good and anti-Evil. Underneath his Autobot sigil, Skyfire may have continued to perceive himself as a Neutral for some time, with the Autobots being his new friends and colleagues, and the Decepticons being enemies who were regretfully led astray by an evil leader and must now be stopped.

Skyfire is badly inexperienced when it comes to warfare and it shows. In "Fire in the Sky," he walks right through a barrage of laser bolts to save Spike and Sparkplug when they are stranded on an iceberg. When the Autobots stop shooting for fear of hitting their friends, Skyfire pauses to talk with the humans and finally carries them away, actually turning his back on his enemies in the process. The more experienced Autobots refused to leave their cover to go save Spike and Sparkplug, noting, "We can't move while that big guy's got us pinned down." They realized that if they left their cover they would be vulnerable; by contrast, Skyfire hardly seemed to realize that he was in danger at all.

In "Fire on the Mountain," Skyfire is ambushed by Thundercracker, who then begins to speak with him and lead him up the steps of the pyramid towards the weapons emplacement he was supposed to be guarding. Skyfire goes quietly with him, listening to what he has to say. I think most Autobots would yell, "Nice try, Decepticreep! You won't fool me!" and then wheel around and fire. Granted, there wasn't much else Skyfire could have done in that situation, but his behavior was unusually trusting and nonreactive. This probably reflects inexperience with Decepticon trickery. Then again, Thundercracker was one of the first people he met when he woke up in "Fire in the Sky," and Skyfire may have felt some connection to him since the Seeker helped to repair him and never faced him on the battlefield.

Besides making newbie mistakes, Skyfire also shows his inexperience in a peculiar reaction that occurs in "A Plague of Insecticons." In this episode Skyfire is flying after a group of Decepticons, trying to follow them without being detected. His attempt fails and he ends up getting into a fight with the three Insecticons. When Kickback fires at him and shoots him on the belly of his jet mode form, Skyfire indignantly shouts, "Hey!" Now, the appropriate reaction here would have been "Arrgh!" or "Unghh!" or "Daaaahhh!" or something to that effect, but Skyfire's tone of voice instead seems to say, "Who do you think you are, shooting at me? You can't do that!" It's as if he feels offended by the fact that Kickback shot at him, as if the whole point of war wasn't to do just that.

Inexperience and reservations aside, Skyfire can nevertheless be both courageous and surprisingly vicious in battle. In "Fire and the Sky" he makes short work of the Decepticons on the ground, smashing Reflector's robot pyramid and picking up Megatron and hurling him bodily to the ice. In "The Ultimate Doom Part 3" his facial expressions as he shoots at the Decepticons are downright nasty and dead serious, and he seems completely unlike the same gentle, positive mech that we see most of the time.

Not only is Skyfire unexpectedly fierce, he is also resolved, a trait which springs from his unusually strong willpower. On two occasions he is seen standing and fighting on while his companions retreat. In "The Ultimate Doom Part 3" he did so deliberately in order to cover their escape, while in "A Plague of Insecticons" he was simply the last one to stop shooting and start running. At other times, Skyfire willingly goes up against large odds alone. In "A Plague of Insecticons," he attacks the Insecticons and Decepticons shortly before the rest of the Autobots show up--and this just after the Insecticons had almost cleaned his clock earlier. In "Fire in the Sky," he attacks the massed force of Autobots while on guard patrol as a Decepticon. The latter act was particularly brave considering he had just joined the military an hour or so earlier.

Whatever reservations Skyfire has about his duty, he has never failed to do it--or at least to try to do it. If courage can be defined as being afraid but doing what one fears anyway, Skyfire can certainly be considered brave. It should be noted that his tendency to stand his ground isn't entirely due to courage, however--Skyfire just isn't very nimble on his feet. In "A Plague of Insecticons," the Insecticons fire at him and several other Autobots. The other Autobots scatter and escape damage, but Skyfire just throws up his arms to protect his face and ends up getting knocked backwards into a pond. The Artful Dodger, he's not.

Skyfire gets a lot of cheesy, stereotypical dialogue and corny puns. Such lines usually consist of either a stock cartoon cliche (for example "You fiend!" or "So & so to the rescue!") or a rather ho-hum metaphor that applies somehow to the situation at hand. For example:

"Have no fear, Skyfire's here!" (when rescuing falling people--cliche)

"Can anyone join the party or do we need an invitation?" (when joining a battle--metaphor)

"You guys move out. I'll join you after I do a little house cleaning here." (when covering a retreat--metaphor)

"Then let's cool them off!" (when coming in to rescue Autobots under "hot" fire--metaphor)

"Your slave control time's over, Megatron." (trying to stop Megatron's hypnochip scheme--just lame)

"Don't worry, Sparkplug. The Skyfire exterminator service is on the way." (going off to stop the Insecticons--metaphor)

"What I wouldn't give for a laser-powered fly swatter." (more fighting the Insecticons--lame)

"Stop buggin' me!" (when flying with an Insecticon biting each wing--corny pun)

"Butt out, Deceptibum!" (when attacking Cybertronian Seekers--just lame)

The uninteresting dialogue that Skyfire often gets is probably one reason why his character has been described as "dull as dishwater." Not that all dialogue must constantly be hysterically witty (unless you're Starscream, of course) or that the rest of the Transformers cast got dialogue that was a million times better, but Skyfire had so little air time on the show that the lack of unique quips and one-liners becomes apparent. He does get an occasional good line (I won't spoil them by listing them off), but for the most part he got a "standard treatment" that could apply to any stock character.

One interesting thing about Skyfire's speech is that part of the time he uses what I call his "action hero voice." Basically, this is a deeper, stilted, and more forceful version of his "normal" voice. This tone of voice first appears in the episode "The Ultimate Doom Part 2;" you won't hear it in "Fire in the Sky" or "Fire on the Mountain." To me Skyfire's "action hero voice" sounds oddly false; I tend to think of his "normal" voice and his hero voice. He uses both during the course of most later episodes. In "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," he says, "Holy halogen illuminators!" and "Have no fear, Skyfire's here!" in his hero voice, and uses his normal voice later when he says, "You can count me in," and "Roger, coming up." You can hear the transition occur sometimes. In "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," Skyfire says to Brawn, "Sorry, guess I was a little too anxious t _o get on my feet_." (emphasis added) In the first part of the quote you hear his normal mild, soft-spoken voice, and then he changes to his action hero voice halfway through the sentence. The same thing happens in "A Plague of Insecticons" when Skyfire says, "Thanks. I'll keep an eye on the _Decepticons from skyside._ " Why does he change voices? It may simply be that he's trying to sound heroic and brave, either to boost others' confidence in him or to bolster his own self confidence. He doesn't use this voice solely around the Decepticons, as one would expect if he was using it in an attempt to intimidate them; rather, he uses it when there is any sort of danger threatening himself or others. But even when there is danger, Skyfire doesn't always use this voice; as noted previously, he didn't use it in "Fire in the Sky" or "Fire on the Mountain," and even in later episodes he occasionally addresses enemy Decepticons in his regular voice, which is definitely not intimidating. The voice-changing habit is probably not deliberate; it may be an unconscious imitation of the other Autobots, or another way of psyching himself up. Most of the time, however, Skyfire uses either a quiet, soft voice or a buoyant, cheerful voice.

A question which is subject to much speculation by transformers fans is, "What was Starscream and Skyfire's original relationship like?" Diverse opinions abound on the topic, with ideas ranging from "they were best friends" to "Skyfire didn't crash, Starscream murdered him in cold blood." Lying at the heart of this matter is the question of what Starscream used to be like--i.e., was he a bad apple from the start, or was he a decent person at some point? Was he naive, cynical, innocent, prejudiced, nice, pure evil, or what? The relationship that Skyfire and Starscream shared--good or bad--hinges mainly upon Starscream's early character.

So what was Starscream originally like? I would venture to suggest that he was basically a good person. Skyfire considered him a friend, and given Skyfire's strong moral code, I doubt that he would want a nasty, cruel person as his constant companion. The argument might be made that Skyfire was an unsuspecting victim who didn't know how evil his supposed "friend" was, but I think this is unlikely because a.) Starscream is terrible at hiding his feelings and would make a pathetic double agent (Megatron informs Starscream in "The Core" that he is such a rotten actor that he couldn't fool a Saturnian simpleton. And if you don't believe Megatron, go watch "War Dawn" and groan at Starscream's acting as he fools the gullible Aerialbots: "Okay, buddies..."), and b.) I think that Skyfire is fairly perceptive and would see through a false friend--especially since he was stuck with Starscream 24/7. Besides this, Starscream initially displays a great deal of anxiety and concern for Skyfire--the most he shows for anyone on the entire show, ever. Even Megatron remarks on this peculiar behavior, asking, "Why are you so concerned about this mechanism, Starscream?" Starscream's worried reaction is especially significant when one considers the fact that as a Decepticon he was not shown to be on particularly friendly terms with any of his comrades; he fights with Skywarp, he blackmails Thundercracker, he shoots Megatron in the back--and those are his _good_ relationships. He hardly sheds a tear for the problems of others, and certainly nobody sheds a tear for his. These are the marks of a selfish, cruel, and ruthless person--just as concern and anxiety for another's well being are the marks of an unselfish, caring person.

Starscream's actions in searching for Skyfire bear this out; Starscream states that he searched "half the globe" (presumably he means Earth's northern hemisphere) looking for Skyfire, which is quite an extensive task for one person. Further, Starscream wears a rare genuine smile for much of "Fire in the Sky," and it is obvious that he was happy to see Skyfire again. Lastly, Starscream even wanted to make Skyfire his second in command when he became the new Decepticon leader, which was probably the most valuable gift he could think of to bestow upon his friend (but since power and control aren't among Skyfire's personal priorities, the gift probably puzzled rather than gratified the receiver). From all this we see that Starscream placed a very high value upon their friendship, a fact which becomes even more apparent when one considers that he hadn't seen Skyfire in five million years and could reasonably have been expected to forget all about him if their friendship was a casual "easy come, easy go" arrangement.

Did Skyfire place an equal value on their friendship? Probably so, although it is not as obvious--Skyfire wasn't very excited to see Starscream because from his perspective it had been but a single day since he had seen his friend last. But Skyfire shows his friendship for Starscream in other ways--mostly by being extremely forbearant towards him. Skyfire watches Starscream treat his new human friends brutally and does not (yet) grow angry with him in spite of the fact that the ill treatment must have been quite a shock to him. Nor does Skyfire get angry at Starscream when his friend shoots him in the hand for trying to save Spike and Sparkplug. Nor does he get mad when Starscream yells an "explanation" for this: "The puny flesh creatures are insignificant. Once they cease being useful to us, they will be terminated!" Then, having come to the realization that yes, the Decepticons are doing an evil thing, and yes, they will indeed kill a whole planetful of innocent life forms, Skyfire is _still_ standing at Starscream's side, watching while his friend prepares to execute some Autobot prisoners whom Skyfire believes have done no wrong. And there is no indication that Skyfire would have interfered with Starscream's planned execution had Starscream not tried to involve him in it.

That is a lot to put up with, and I think that it shows Skyfire was willing to wait and see how things turned out before he made a final judgment on his friend. He may have wanted to better understand Starscream's motivations to see if they were really as bad as they appeared to be, or he might have wanted to convince Starscream to stop what he was doing. He might simply have been so disoriented by waking up in the future and so intimidated by the overall situation that he lacked the nerve to act. There are any number of reasons why Skyfire stood by and did nothing, but I think that one of the main reasons had to be that Starscream was his friend and therefore Skyfire couldn't just say to himself, "Wow, what a creep," and fly off without a second thought.

Besides this unusually forbearant behavior, Skyfire demonstrates consideration for Starscream in another way when he asks, "Are you happier being a warrior than a scientist, Starscream?" This is an honest personal question, and it not only displays Skyfire's interest in Starscream's contentment, but also a certain amount of earnest openness between them. Skyfire apparently felt that his question was best asked in private; he made the inquiry of Starscream when they were alone together, after Megatron left. To me this indicates that he wanted Starscream to give him an honest answer and to speak freely. And this in turn leads to the conclusion that he was serious about wanting to know whether Starscream was happy or not. This is the kind of question that only somebody who actually cares asks.

But Skyfire was not merely interested in Starscream's happiness--he was also interested in enhancing his friend's reputation. After Starscream says that he will make Skyfire his second in command, Skyfire tells Starscream, "I shall try to bring you credit." Now, if I had been in Skyfire's place I would have said something like this: "Thank you. I don't know if I'll be up to it, but I'll try my best." But Skyfire didn't think like this; instead, his response indicates that he saw the situation in terms of how his performance would reflect upon his friend. He saw his responsibility not in terms of trying to bring himself credit so that he would seem qualified, but in terms of how others would perceive Starscream because of his behavior. In effect, his response was "I'll do my best for your sake," not "I'll do my best for my own sake." This unconscious, unselfish interest would seem to indicate that Skyfire considered Starscream's good reputation to be one of his priorities.

Looking at the question from a reverse perspective, another proof of their friendship can be seen in Skyfire's reaction to being shot by Starscream for refusing to execute the Autobots. When Starscream fires upon Skyfire, Skyfire's reaction is to shout "Starscream--!" in a horrified and disbelieving tone. During the subsequent battle, after Starscream strafes the ground next to him, Skyfire shouts, "Time to even the score, _friend!_ " and then takes off to attack Starscream. For Skyfire, who has a mild disposition and dislikes harming others, this is a major step. He apparently felt very angry and betrayed by Starscream's actions, and this would naturally imply that there was something there _to_ betray--and also that this something was big enough to cause Skyfire to actively seek retribution upon his former friend.

By a similar token, Starscream evidently felt betrayed by Skyfire too. Referring to Skyfire's loyalty as he holds the Autobots at gunpoint in preparation to fire, he states, "Those years under the ice _diminished your loyalty coefficient,_ Skyfire, but because of our _old friendship_ I shall be generous." (Emphasis mine.) When Skyfire subsequently refuses to kill the Autobots, Starscream calls him a "traitor" and fires upon him. Was Starscream's accusation of "traitor" a reference to Skyfire's betrayal of the Decepticon cause, or a reference to Skyfire's perceived betrayal of their friendship? I think it was referring to a personal betrayal.

Starscream's actions would seem to bear this out. If we contrast his behavior towards Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky" with his behavior towards Thundercracker in "Fire on the Mountain," we see some telling differences in how Starscream handles treason. In "Fire on the Mountain," Starscream discovers that Thundercracker is encouraging Skyfire to destroy the Decepticons' weapons emplacement. Instantly he screams, "Thundercracker, you putrid traitor!" and opens fire...only to miss completely, then spontaneously decide to spare Thundercracker so that he can blackmail him.

A very similar thing happens in "Fire in the Sky" when Starscream gets angry at Skyfire. There is the same scream of "Traitor!" and the same instantaneous laser blast. Afterwards, however, differences in Starscream's attitude begin to appear. We see this in "Fire on the Mountain" when the Decepticons are flying back to base in defeat. Thundercracker pulls up beside Megatron and Starscream and says, "What's the matter, fearless leader? You and Starscream look real geeky! Maybe the Autobots aren't such wimps after all!" Here is sympathy for the enemy akin to Skyfire's statement that the Autobots have done no wrong. And Thundercracker has not only passively refused to obey orders, as Skyfire did, but also actively worked _against_ the Decepticon cause, and this apparently for the sole purpose of causing Starscream personal injury. So what is Starscream's reaction to Thundercracker's bluntly insulting public statement? Nothing. All Starscream does is complain to Megatron, "Does he have to make that awful thunder noise? I've got a headache."

Why doesn't Starscream get angry at Thundercracker _at all_ for this insulting remark _?_ And why did he instantly decide not to keep shooting at Thundercracker after that first missed shot? Blackmail aside, I suspect the reason behind Starscream's surprising tolerance is that he considered Thundercracker's actions to be merely "official" insubordination and treachery from a person he didn't care deeply about, whereas he felt that his Skyfire's refusal to take his side was a personal betrayal of _him._

There is additional support for this idea in the way Starscream frames his initial "offer" to Skyfire to let him execute the Autobots: "Those years under the ice diminished your _loyalty_ coefficient, Skyfire, but because of our _old friendship_ I shall be generous. You may have the pleasure of melting down these Autobots." (Emphasis mine.) In spite of how generous Starscream claims he is being and what a pleasure he claims it will be to murder unarmed prisoners, his tone of voice and subsequent pulling of rank to prevent Skyfire from refusing his offer show that he didn't consider "no" to be an acceptable answer. In effect, Starscream was trying to get Skyfire to prove his loyalty and friendship to him by killing the Autobots, and when Skyfire failed this test Starscream became furious. Starscream perceived Skyfire's actions and words in a much harsher light than Thundercracker's actions (which were actually far worse than Skyfire's) because he once considered Skyfire his friend, and the betrayal evidently stung. But you can't have a betrayal of trust unless there was some trust to begin with, and so we see from the reactions of both parties in "Fire in the Sky" that Starscream and Skyfire must have shared a friendship that held much significance to them both.

So how close was their friendship? Probably very close. They willingly explored space together with no one else for company except each other. As such, they would have been each other's only source of entertainment, companionship, and conversation. They would need to be able to depend upon each other in life and death situations. They would need to have both a good working relationship and a good playing relationship. And in fact, they likely did. They wandered so far from Cybertron that even nine million years later, Earth had not yet been rediscovered by transformers. This would be a long ways to travel, especially considering that Cybertron is implied to be in a different galaxy from Earth ("Transport to Oblivion," "The Ultimate Doom Part 1") and the galaxy nearest to our own Milky Way is 70,000 light years away. 70,000 light years is a long ways to go, and that is only to the _nearest_ galaxy--Cybertron might easily have been in another galaxy altogether. So Skyfire and Starscream would have been companions for the long haul, and this suggests that they had a strong and healthy long-term friendship.

But what was that friendship like? It was a close one, and it was between two good people as opposed to one good and one evil person, but what else can we say about it? Again, the question comes back to what Starscream was like in those days. Apparently he liked the adventure inherent in exploration; when Skyfire asked him if he was happier being a warrior than a scientist, Starscream responded enthusiastically and without hesitation, "Yes, it is far more exciting!" Exploration probably would have been one of the most dangerous occupations open to a scientist during the Golden Age, and it seems likely that Starscream already enjoyed a lifestyle with some element of exciting risk in it.

Another obvious thing we can say about Starscream is that he learned to think empirically during this period of his life. Starscream has a scientist's mindset towards discovering new things; he is often shown seeking proof for theories through tests or coming up with hypotheses and counterhypotheses to explain a phenomenon or predict an outcome. Megatron does not value this mindset in his second in command; he angrily refers to it as Starscream's "defective mentality" when Starscream wastes a large stack of energon cubes to test if they work ("More than Meets the Eye Part 2"). Megatron's identification of this specific mindset in Starscream would seem to indicate that he had seen examples of it before, and indeed, there are many other expressions of such a mentality shown in the cartoon. In "Traitor," Starscream explains the scientific method to Megatron, saying, "To discover if something works, you must dare to test it!" On another occasion, when cataclysmic events start happening on Dinobot island as a result of the Decepticons' energy collection ("Dinobot Island Part 2"), Starscream observes, "Hmm. An unexplained reaction is occurring," as if he were studying the results of an experiment. (On a side note, Starscream apparently considers Megatron to be unscientific. In the episode "Cosmic Rust," for example, he calls Megatron an "uneducated dolt.") There are other examples pointing to Starscream's prior scientific training, but these ones serve to illustrate a point: Starscream developed a scientist's mindset during his early life. Along with that mindset we would expect to see the same propensity for critical thinking and questioning accepted knowledge that the present Starscream possesses. Such a questioning attitude would, ironically enough, have been considered an acceptable and praiseworthy trait by his fellow scientists.

I think we may also safely assume that early Starscream was as intelligent and creative in his early life as he is later shown to be as a Decepticon (barring the rather unlikely idea that he got some sort of brain upgrade like the Dinobots did). And since intelligence and creativity are usually a requirement for the generation of facetious quips, it is possible (and even probable) that just like the latter Starscream, the early Starscream already had a ready wit. Taken as a whole, it seems likely that the early Starscream possessed much of his latter self's scientific mindset, love for excitement, and capacity for spontaneous verbal humor.

As an explorer, Starscream was probably (like Skyfire) self sufficient, self confident, and able to come up with creative solutions to problems--all traits that we see in his 1984 self. One particularly good illustration of these characteristics is found in the episode, "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court," in which Starscream uses peasant labor and local materials to make gunpowder and produce energy. The Autobots also have access to local materials and manpower, but they do not create any resources or weapons for themselves; presumably, they assumed it was impossible to produce energy or effective weaponry in such a primitive environment and didn't bother to try.

Starscream's quick improvisation from the primitive means at hand would have stood him in good stead as an explorer, and it demonstrates a high level of self sufficiency in a situation where little to no outside help was available. Even Megatron may respect Starscream's resourcefulness in this regard; in "More than Meets the Eye Part 1," he orders Starscream to convert a location for construction, but there are no Cybertronian materials available. When Starscream asks what he should do for materials, Megatron irritably responds, "Use your imagination." Apparently he expected Starscream to be inventive enough to figure something out that didn't require refined metals and advanced machinery.

So pronounced is Starscream's self sufficiency that he actually seems to be at his best when left to his own devices. When operating alone in "Countdown to Extinction," he nearly manages to blow up the Earth and harvest its energy--without any help. When abandoned on the battlefield in "Auto-Berserk," he almost steals the Autobots' Nullifier--without any support from the other Decepticons. When kicked out of the base in "Starscream's Brigade," he builds his own gestalt--again with no help. Indeed, it would appear that leaving Starscream unsupervised is a recipe for planetary disaster. And it may be that he learned to work well alone during his exploration years, when he would have had no assistance but that provided by one other person--Skyfire.

The Starscream of the past also apparently did not share the present Starscream's prejudice against organic lifeforms, since one of the objectives of his and Skyfire's exploration mission was to find sentient life. Starscream seems to have had some experience in making first contact; in "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court" after one of the knights has introduced himself as "Sir Wagend du Blackthorne," Starscream identifies himself as "Starscream of Cybertron," immediately mimicking the human's style of introduction. ("du" means "of.") This may suggest that he was once accustomed to approaching other cultures on equal footing and identifying with their culture and customs.

Early Starscream is shown to be a Neutral rather than a Decepticon on the memory monitor in "Fire in the Sky" when he displays his blank, sigil-free wings. As a Neutral, he apparently felt no need to make an official commitment to either the Autobot or Decepticon faction; or the factions held no interest for him; or he didn't strongly support the views of one or the other. It was presumably only after he joined the Decepticons that he became inculcated with beliefs about Decepticon supremacy, the inferiority of Autobots, the insectitude of organics, etc.

What of Starscream's other traits, i.e. emotionalism, a tendency to commit impulsive actions, and the immaturity that Megatron referred to in "Starscream's Brigade" when he stated, "Starscream is a child" and everyone agreed? I believe that these traits would all have been in evidence in the original Starscream, because they are often associated with the traits we have already identified in his former self. Lovers of excitement are usually not portrayed as staid, logical folk like Shockwave; instead, they are usually depicted as having strong emotions which they enjoy having stirred up. They like risk and danger and the challenge, thrill and reward of victory. Because of this fact and because a person's basic personality traits tend to be stable over time, I suspect that along with a taste for excitement, Starscream was always driven strongly by his emotions. Presumably, these intense emotions would have centered around the more positive end of the spectrum, consisting of joy, affection, loyalty, pity, gratitude, compassion, etc. This would be in contrast to the strong emotions which the present Starscream experiences as a Decepticon--i.e., fear, rage, envy, contempt, etc.

In association with this emotionalism, it is probable that (just like the modern Starscream) the early Starscream was prone to reacting out of his emotions without thinking things through first--though this presumably didn't take the form of getting angry and shooting people on the spur of the moment as the present Starscream frequently does ("More than Meets the Eye Part 3," "Fire in the Sky," "Fire on the Mountain," "Starscream's Brigade"). In fact, his spur of the moment reactions may have expressed themselves in spontaneous displays of affection.

We see Starscream do such a thing once (and only once) in the cartoon, at the end of the episode "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court." In that episode, after returning to the present time, Starscream catches sight of Megatron (whom he called a "blunderer" earlier in the episode) and throws himself at his leader in a sort of Tigger hug, knocking him down and spoiling Megatron's shot in the process. When Megatron snaps, "Starscream, you fool, you ruined my shot!" Starscream asks innocently, "What's the matter? Aren't you glad to see us?" Presumably the past Starscream's impulsiveness was expressed in such positive ways rather than in sudden explosions of anger.

What about the immature attitude that Starscream often displays, expressed in pettiness, impatience and lack of self control? I suspect that original Starscream was not particularly petty simply because the positive qualities he likely possessed would have precluded such behavior. Such a trait would also have been intolerable in an exploration partner, and Skyfire would probably have turned around and gone back to Cybertron after their first month together if this had been the case. Additionally, Skyfire is not the type of person who would incite petty behavior in Starscream as easily as Megatron does, so even if early Starscream did have that latent trait he probably didn't exercise it as much.

Was the original Starscream as impatient as his Decepticon self? Probably so; patience does not seem like the sort of characteristic that would normally be associated with strong emotions, a taste for excitement, and spur of the moment decisions. Yet impatience would not be an asset for scientific research either--as we see in "Traitor." In that episode, Megatron is trying to extract energy from electrocells which are dangerously volatile. As a precaution to prevent them from exploding, he is trying to get a fail-safe monitor to function properly before he makes any energon cubes. Starscream impatiently asks, "Why do you delay, Megatron? The power in these cells would be transferred to the energon cubes by now and the Autobots defeated if _I_ were in charge!" When Megatron irritably points out that _he_ is the one in charge and that he wants to get the fail-safe monitor working, Starscream replies, "Where is the courage your leadership demands, Megatron? To discover if something works, you must dare to test it!" He then goes ahead without Megatron's permission and makes some energon cubes, only to have them blow up in his and Megatron's faces. I suspect that even as a scientist, Starscream impatiently desired to get to the "exciting part."

So, we have tentatively reconstructed a portrait of the original Starscream that looks much like the Starscream of the present--impatient, self sufficient, ingenious, emotional, witty, excitable and analytical. Furthermore, we see that these traits can be expressed in positive ways. Strip away the cruelty, the arrogance, the anger, and the indifference to others and replace these with concern for others' well being, a normal estimate of own's self worth and positive emotions, and you get much the same Starscream but in a vastly different flavor. This would be Skyfire's close friend and companion.

Now we can say something about Skyfire's and Starscream's relationship. First and foremost, we see that it was a friendship based on differences. Starscream is emotional and reactive; Skyfire is calm and collected. Starscream is quick and impulsive; Skyfire is deliberate and cautious. Starscream likes excitement and danger; Skyfire likes peace and safety. Starscream is a midsized; Skyfire is huge. Starscream is notoriously loud and shrill; Skyfire is quiet and soft-spoken. Starscream is impatient; Skyfire is patient. Starscream is reckless; Skyfire is careful. Starscream is expressive; Skyfire is reserved. Starscream is childish; Skyfire is mature. How could two such different people ever be friends?

In fact, Skyfire and Starscream probably enjoyed each other's company _because_ of their differences rather than in spite of them--instead of clashing with each other, they complemented each other. The author Isak Dinesen spoke of this idea eloquently when describing her friendship with her native Somali servant, a man of differing "race, sex, religion, milieu [background] and experience." Dinesen notes about their friendship, which she considers an example of a "Unity," that, "In order to form and make up a Unity, in particular a creative Unity, the individual components must needs be of different nature, they should even be in a sense contrasts. Two homogeneous units will never be capable of forming a whole, or their whole at its best will remain barren... A hook and an eye are a Unity, a fastening; but with two hooks you can do nothing. A right-hand glove with its contrast the left-hand glove makes up a whole, a pair of gloves; but two right-hand gloves you throw away." Dinesen felt that the very reward in her friendship came from the fact that she and her servant were so very different. Because of this, Dinesen described the experience of having to leave her friend in terms of having to leave a part of herself behind, "I felt as if I were losing a part of myself, as if I were having my right hand set off, and from now on would never again ride a horse or shoot a rifle, nor be able to write otherwise than with my left hand." ("Shadows on the Grass") Another such example of a friendship between very different people, in this case the English WWII ace Bob Tuck and his fellow pilot "Sailor" Malan, was described in the book "Fly for Your Life" by Larry Forrester: "In many ways, they were precise opposites. Malan was fair, thickset, relaxed, not too talkative; Tuck was dark, thin, highly strung and gregarious... Sailor, in fact, seemed to sail through life. He didn't get even mildly excited, never took unwarranted risks, came out tops every time without really trying and then got embarrassed if anyone said "good show." Bob was intense, ever-striving, a hard worker and a hard player--and the more successful he was, the cockier he became. But they had in common a love of flying, all forms of shooting, bitter beer, and fast sports cars." (The fact that Bob Tuck was an ace pilot is coincidental and is not at all intended as an unflattering comparison with Starscream.)

In much the same sense as in these two examples, Skyfire and Starscream probably found satisfaction and mutual fulfillment in each other's differences. Friendships between people with contrasting personalities may be mutually enjoyable and need not necessarily result in constant tension, arguments and friction. Indeed, even the most famous pair of explorers in our time, Lewis and Clarke were quite different from each other yet still maintained a strong and harmonious friendship: "In temperament Lewis and Clarke were opposites. Lewis was introverted, melancholic, and moody; Clark, extroverted, even-tempered and gregarious. The better educated and more refined Lewis, who possessed a philosophical, romantic and speculative mind, was at home with abstract ideas; Clark, of a pragmatic mold, was more of a practical man of action. Each supplied vital qualities which balanced their partnership." ("Lewis and Clarke's Historic Trail")

I think that in a similar way, Skyfire and Starscream's affectionate friendship, rooted in their strongly marked differences, provided the basis for a successful, harmonious, and lasting team. By taking advantage of each other's unique perspective and capabilities, they could accomplish things that neither of them could have done alone. So we see that differences can be an asset in both a working partnership and a friendship. Cicero sums the discussion up in his essay on friendship: "Friends are not infrequently the complements, rather than the likenesses, of each other." ("De Amicitia")

It is important to note at this point that although friends may be very different from each other, it is still necessary that they share common interests. In Starscream's and Skyfire's case, both shared the same scientific specialties, the same interest in travel/adventure/discovery, and the same circumstances in life as explorers. If we assume that they did indeed meet at the postulated Science Academy, then they also shared a common institutional background. And there is some support for the idea that Starscream received a formal education in the fact that he calls Megatron an "uneducated dolt" rather than (say) an "ignorant dolt," implying that Starscream himself is educated ("Cosmic Rust"). Add this to the fact that Skyfire says one of his functions is to further "learning," as opposed to merely "knowledge," and we see that they probably both had dealings with an educational institution at some point in their early lives. Why not together at the same one?

So much for work. What did Skyfire and Starscream do for fun? (Actually their work probably was fun in itself--they say "Find a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.") Probably, they talked a lot. Their long deep space voyages between stars would likely have been very dull and lonely unless they provided each other with entertainment. Amusing conversation, if it does not degenerate into something banal and vulgar, often reaches its highest potential when there is nothing to do. Starscream's witty sense of humor probably provided much amusement for Skyfire, and Skyfire probably gave Starscream a good teasing now and then. They likely had their own standing jokes and favorite topics of discussion. And after spending so much time conversing, they probably knew each other very, very well.

I suspect that Skyfire and Starscream enjoyed the pastime of flying together. Such an activity would minimize the effects of their size difference, and although Starscream would have been faster and more maneuverable in the air, they could still have shared slower activities. And indeed, calm, collected Skyfire does appear to have some experience doing flying stunts. He is seen to do a barrel roll on the memory monitor in "Fire in the Sky," and when he dodges some missiles in "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," Wheeljack is prompted to exclaim, "Man, that's flyin'." This skill becomes even more surprising in light of Skyfire's function as a cargo jet. One would expect that a person whose altermode is designed to carry people and cargo would be disinclined towards pulling foolish stunts, lest they make their passengers afraid or damage their cargo. Yet Skyfire evidently enjoys--and has an aptitude for--aerobatics. It may be that flying with Starscream helped him to realize his potential in this area.

Depending on what entertainment material Skyfire and Starscream brought along with them, they could have done any number of other things together--anything from playing Cybertronian games to watching movies on Skyfire's holoprojector. It is likely that more casual, unplanned activities also revolved around interactions with the natural environment--i.e., throwing rocks in a lake, peeking under logs, showing neat stuff to each other, making things out of natural materials, and goofing around pointlessly with sticks, trees, dirt, water, etc. The whole point of these activities is to do things _together._ Exploration itself, no matter how exciting and fascinating, would probably be exceptionally boring if there was no one to do it with. As Cicero put it, "'If a man could ascend to heaven and get a clear view of the natural order of the universe, and the beauty of the heavenly bodies, that wonderful spectacle would give him small pleasure, though nothing could be conceived more delightful if he had but had someone to whom to tell what he had seen.'" ("De Amicitia")

The focus of Skyfire's character is usually placed on his function as a scientist rather than his role as a teacher. And indeed, this is primarily how Skyfire sees himself. In "Fire in the Sky," he protests to Starscream, "But I'm a scientist [rather than a teacher], not an executioner!" Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to skim over Skyfire's reference to himself as a teacher (which is to say, a promoter of "learning") because it provides another possible insight into his friendship with Starscream. If Skyfire's teaching career--in whatever form that took, at the postulated Science Academy or otherwise--ended when he began his exploration career, then why does he still regard himself as a teacher? There are two possibilities: either he simply continued to identify with his old profession although he no longer practiced it, or he was still teaching someone--namely Starscream.

The latter possibility is worth some deeper examination, because it suggests a mentoring relationship as well as a friendship between him and Starscream. If this is the case, then possibly Starscream was Skyfire's protege, placing him in a somewhat more subordinate role in their relationship. There is some indirect support for this idea in the fact that Starscream had enough intelligence to rise to the rank of second in command of the Decepticon army. Possibly Skyfire recognized early on how much potential Starscream had, and decided to take him under his wing for personal training. Starscream also notes that "We detected no intelligent life on the surface, but Skyfire insisted we look closer." Skyfire is not portrayed as a very insistent sort of person, but Starscream apparently listened to him. One final piece of evidence is that on the memory monitor in "Fire in the Sky," Skyfire is shown to lead the way with Starscream flying behind him rather than Starscream leading the way with Skyfire following. Inconclusive, but interesting. If such a mentoring relationship did in fact exist, then it would also be appropriate to imagine Skyfire helping Starscream to develop his skills and teaching him how to think with a scientist's mindset--meaning that, ironically enough, Megatron's daily headaches may be due in no small part to Skyfire's teaching!

From a writer's perspective, Skyfire and Starscream's differences make them ideal foils for each other. The contrast in their personalities and physical characteristics provides an ideal way to showcase the special qualities of each. For example, Starscream's emotionalism comes out in stark relief when it is contrasted with Skyfire's reserve. Or similarly, Skyfire's patience becomes obvious when it is shown next to Starscream's lack thereof. I would venture to say that Skyfire is probably the ideal foil for Starscream, with the only other real contenders for this position being Megatron and Thundercracker. In the cartoon, Megatron was Starscream's foil (and vice versa), providing a less emotional, more controlled and calculating personality which clashed against Starscream's personality in both the figurative and the literal senses. In fanfics (although this was not actually shown in the cartoon), Thundercracker is often used as Starscream's foil, being depicted as the more mature, calm, pacifying and moral person who counteracts Starscream's opposing tendencies. (The question of whether or not this is a full portrayal of Thundercracker's actual character will be left to another essay). Skyfire's character combines in itself both Megatron's less emotional, more self-controlled side and fanfic Thundercracker's mature, calm, and pacifying traits, thereby allowing for a fuller contrast with Starscream than either Megatron or Thundercracker alone could provide. Unfortunately, Skyfire can only be used with Starscream under specialized circumstances, thus limiting his usefulness to the fanfic writer.

One of the keys to Skyfire's personality is his self-giving nature. The best example of this occurs in "Fire in the Sky," after Skyfire has been shot by Starscream and left lying in the snow. At this point, he was damaged so severely that Ratchet later says that whether he lives or dies would be a matter of time and luck. But in spite of the fact that his life is ebbing away as he lies there in the snow, Skyfire still says to the Autobots in a relieved voice, "Good. I'm glad you are still functional." How many people are so selfless that they would spend their last moments expressing gladness at someone else's survival? (I think Optimus Prime goes without saying.) Skyfire is obviously very interested in others' happiness and well-being, and this trait is apparently so deeply ingrained in him that it pops out even during the moments when he ought to be most concerned about himself.

Like most genuinely self-giving people, Skyfire is secure in himself. He is self-assured enough that he can afford to spend his time building up and encouraging others instead of focusing on how to attract attention for himself. This trait quite naturally allows him to make friends easily, for everybody likes a warm, considerate person.

Skyfire seems to enjoy making new friends, and considers new acquaintances his friends within a very short period of time. In "Fire in the Sky," by the time Skyfire has brought Spike and Sparkplug back to Megatron, he calls them his friends. In "Fire on the Mountain," Skyfire tells the Autobots in his hold, "What are friends for?" suggesting that he already regarded his new acquaintances as friends. Skyfire even befriended Brawn, who is probably one of the more difficult Autobots to get along with.

Such a desire and ability to befriend others springs from Skyfire's self-giving nature and from his quiet self assurance, which allows him to reach out to others confidently. Describing how such self-assured people are especially inclined to make new friends, Cicero observes: "...When a man's confidence in himself is greatest, when he is so fortified by virtue and wisdom as to want nothing and to feel absolutely self-dependent, it is then that he is most conspicuous for seeking out and keeping up friendships." ("De Amicitia")

With this idea in mind, the question of how Skyfire and Starscream became friends takes on a new light. It may be no coincidence that young Starscream was friends with one of the nicest transformers on the show. Was early Starscream someone hard to befriend, for whatever reason (too different, too smart, too childish)? In other words, did Starscream end up with Skyfire by default because Skyfire was the only one who _c_ _ould_ befriend him? While we don't have enough evidence to say one way or the other, it is a distinct possibility.

Another question that is frequently speculated upon by fans is what, if any, relationship existed between Starscream and Skyfire after their falling out. Tied closely in with this is the question of whether or not Skyfire and Starscream could ever patch things up and become friends again. In the cartoon, there is some intriguing evidence for the view that they could restore their relationship. This evidence begins, peculiarly enough, in the episode "Fire in the Sky" where Starscream and Skyfire are trying to kill each other...or are they? For a long time, I naturally assumed this was the case; however, after watching the episode repeatedly during an (ongoing) attempt to novelize it, I discovered something strange: in the aerial part of their battle, Skyfire and Starscream _never shoot at each other!_ True, Starscream strafes the ground next to Skyfire, prompting the latter to take flight and go after him, but from that point on neither one fires a shot at the other, despite multiple opportunities to do so.

The first of these opportunities occurs when Skyfire is flying above/behind Starscream, who is unable to find him. It would have been an easy shot, but Skyfire doesn't take it, and when Starscream demands that Skyfire show himself, Skyfire actually tells him exactly where he is. This prompts them both to loop around into a course in which they face each other nose to nose in a near head-on collision. Now, the interesting thing about such an approach vector is that it puts each jet in an ideal position to fire upon the other, because all their forward facing weapons are pointing at each other. But while each jet is perfectly oriented to shoot the other down, by the same token they are also completely exposed to the other's weapons for as long as the face off lasts.

How does one survive such an encounter without being shot to pieces? The obvious answer is to swerve away and escape, but this doesn't work in real life (or even in _X-wing vs. TIE fighter_ ). The jet that swerves off from the head-on approach vector not only takes himself out of firing position but also leaves himself open for a full broadside from the other guy, who still has _his_ weapons facing forwards. The jet who breaks off also leaves himself open to pursuit from the other craft, who can easily jump on his tail and follow, pummeling him from behind with his forward facing weapons. In such a case, about the only thing the fleeing craft can do is to perform evasive maneuvers. So obviously, turning away from a head-on is a bad move; the better tactic to do is to keep heading forwards until you sweep by the other craft completely.

You can of course speed up in order to make the head-on shorter or rely on your armor to take the punishment, but this won't guarantee a victory, much less survival. The only thing that _guarantees_ survival is to neutralize the other fighter before it can destroy you--a rather obvious example of kill or be killed. All things being equal, the person who shoots the most and gets hit the least is the consistent winner in such a scenario. The objective then, is to fire as soon as you can, as fast as you can, and as accurately as you can. In a head-on, one's best defense is a good offense. And Air Commander Starscream, at least, ought to know this.

So, Skyfire and Starscream are approaching in a head-on, nose to nose with all their forward-facing weapons pointing straight at each other, each swelling in the other's sights, each in imminent danger of being fired upon by the other--and what happens?

_Neither of them fires a shot!_

That is quite incredible; they each had the ideal opportunity to fire upon each other, with the threat of being destroyed if they didn't, but neither of them did a thing. Instead, they swept by each other and their wings smacked into each other, sending Starscream spinning out of control and apparently damaging Skyfire in some unobvious way. They would have each had a strong incentive--self preservation--to destroy each other before they themselves could be destroyed, but instead they left themselves vulnerable by not firing. Each risked his own safety by letting the other live.

But perhaps the whole point of the encounter was just to hit wings? I doubt it; it would be a silly and self-destructive means of harming each other. Starscream would certainly have no motivation to attack Skyfire in such a manner, for earlier in the battle he saw Skywarp lose control and smash into Thundercracker, sending both jets careening into the ocean. The moral of this story is obvious: midair collisions are bad news. Especially midair collisions with jets which are many times your own size and mass. Skyfire, being the much larger craft, wouldn't have to worry about the effects of a midair collision as much as Starscream would (think of a ping pong ball smacking into a bowling ball), but nonetheless the damage he took was apparently nothing to scoff at--it eventually did make him crash. Either (1) he knew the risk and thought he could take the punishment from the quasikamikaze maneuver and live, or (2) he didn't know the risk involved and acted in ignorance of the consequences, or (3) he wasn't trying to hit Starscream at all. I favor the latter idea, mostly because I don't think Skyfire is desperate enough to risk harm to himself in order to take Starscream out. But also, Skyfire is a living jet who has probably seen at least a few grisly pictures of plane crashes and wouldn't be ignorant of the potential consequences of an aerial collision. Instead of making a deliberate attack, I think both Starscream and Skyfire were trying to swerve out of the way and accidentally maneuvered into each other.

Bottom line: Starscream and Skyfire began the battle fully intending to fire upon each other, but when it came down to it, they simply couldn't do it. Starscream could fire on Skyfire in a moment of sudden rage, or he could strafe the ground next to him, but when push came to shove he simply couldn't kill his friend. Nor could Skyfire, in spite of two clear opportunities. If their wings hadn't hit each other, they would have flown right past each other, having done nothing to harm one another.

But even more telling is the duo's next encounter in "Fire on the Mountain." In that episode, Skyfire goes to destroy the weapons emplacement on the Incan pyramid, and as he sneaks closer he spies Starscream and Skywarp standing guard. What does he do next? Apparently, nothing. Skyfire doesn't move in to try to destroy the weapon until Starscream disappears (Skywarp and Thundercracker had left too by this point). The implication is that Skyfire was unwilling to confront Starscream a second time.

Starscream's reaction to discovering that Skyfire was still alive is also interesting. He would have been able to see Thundercracker and Skyfire standing at the top of the pyramid from a distance, and he climbed up the steps of the pyramid without drawing their notice. Why didn't Thundercracker or Skyfire register Starscream's presence until Starscream screamed "Thundercracker, you putrid traitor!"? My thinking is that Starscream was approaching slowly--and hence quietly--enough that Skyfire and Thundercracker didn't catch the noise of his footsteps, especially since they were both locked into a rather tense situation with each other at the time.

But why would Starscream be approaching slowly, and on foot? Shouldn't he be in a hurry to help Thundercracker out with the huge, dangerous Autobot? Shouldn't he be eager to engage Skyfire in battle to finish what he began earlier? Not necessarily. I think that when Starscream saw Skyfire standing and talking with Thundercracker at the top of the pyramid, he thought maybe there would be a chance for him to talk with Skyfire too and maybe fix things up. And so, he approached in such a way as not to give the impression that he was going to attack. Then too, he may have deliberately snuck up on them to eavesdrop on their conversation; it could be interpreted either way.

Not convinced yet? Well, it gets better. When Starscream overhears Thundercracker plotting against him he gets angry and--ignoring his ex-friend completely--fires upon Thundercracker. Thundercracker ducks, of course, and Starscream hits Skyfire instead. What happens next is quite astonishing, unless one accepts that Starscream really does have some strong feelings left for his ex-friend. Instead of firing another shot at Thundercracker, who now has every reason to shoot him, Starscream _turns his back_ on Thundercracker to see what has happened to Skyfire. Was he verifying that Skyfire was really down for the count, or was he checking to make sure that he didn't just kill his friend (again)? Starscream's subsequent statement, "Well, so much for the Autobot intruder," would seem to indicate the latter scenario, but I think that actions speak stronger than words. In fact, by taking the time to check on Skyfire he left himself completely open to Thundercracker, who at that moment had every reason in the world (vengeance, self defense, and the silencing of someone who knows he betrayed his cause) to harm him when his back was turned. It was a dangerous move on Starscream's part, but it seems he was more interested in verifying whether or not Skyfire was alive then about staying alive himself. In short, _he evidently forgot about his own safety because he was so concerned about his friend._

There is only one other direct indication about Starscream's feelings for Skyfire, and this occurs when Skyfire has been dragged inside the pyramid and Megatron says that the Skyfire's logic circuits will be rewired so that he will serve the Decepticon cause. What is Starscream's reaction to Megatron's statement? Nothing; he remains silent and his face is expressionless. What he might have said but didn't say is interesting: he didn't push for having Skyfire executed, and he didn't gloat about what a great achievement it was for him to capture an important Autobot prisoner single-handedly. I suspect that Starscream didn't gloat about it because he didn't really care for the idea of having a reprogrammed Skyfire hanging around and reminding him of their betrayed friendship. But he couldn't object to it because the only alternative would be to have Skyfire executed, which he didn't want either. Or, Starscream might not have wanted Skyfire reprogrammed because he didn't want to see his friend's personality or goals changed, in whatever form that might take. Definitely such reprogramming would have entailed the introduction of a strong desire to obey Megatron ("The Secret of Omega Supreme"), which Starscream would find abhorrent for obvious reasons, but it might also have required the partial destruction of Skyfire's moral code, a full or partial memory wipe, or a remedy for Skyfire's lack of bloodthirstiness. Starscream might have found any one of these things unacceptable.

At any rate, I think that Starscream was unhappy about how things were turning out but couldn't think of anything to do about it...at least, not at this point in the episode. But later on, when Megatron is firing the artillery piece at the advancing Autobots, Starscream lands on the pyramid, apparently to cover Megatron's back. Cliffjumper and Brawn come rushing up from the rear and Starscream fires and picks off Cliffjumper. Brawn makes it up the pyramid, and Starscream ends up fighting him with his back pressed up against Megatron's back. Starscream and Brawn's ongoing fight jostles Megatron around, preventing him from aiming and shooting the weapon, and control of the artillery piece is lost. This leads to a suspicious, albeit unprovable supposition: Starscream's actions could have been a deliberate act of sabotage intended to make the Decepticons lose the battle. Thus Skyfire would be saved from reprogramming and wouldn't be shot by the artillery piece as the Sky Spy was earlier.

In light of this, isn't it interesting that in the episode "Day of the Machines," in which Skyfire is captured by the Decepticons (with Starscream present on the scene), Skyfire ends up locked in a room with a powerful electromagnet, Hound, and Spike--and the two guards outside are the weakest Decepticons in the whole force? One would think that the Decepticons could spare two minutes to clean out their makeshift holding cell and get rid of the potential escape material there, but it was all left inside. Might Starscream have had a hand in choosing the room and assigning the guards? Perhaps; it's impossible to draw any firm conclusions on the question. Though it was Spike, not Skyfire, who figured out how to use the electromagnet to escape, it may be that Starscream expected his old partner to be able to figure out how to escape with the resources at hand since he knew that Skyfire had learned how to make creative reuse of equipment in his days as an explorer. (And see Rob Jung's fanfic, "Fire of the Soul" for a twist on this scenario.)

There is, however, one major argument against the idea that Starscream had any feelings left for Skyfire: the episode "Countdown to Extinction." In this episode, Starscream--acting completely on his own initiative--takes it upon himself to blow up the Earth with Dr. Arkeville's exponential generator and collect the energy from that destruction. Since Skyfire is presumably on Earth at this point (we don't actually see him in the episode, so theoretically he could have been offplanet, but if this was the case Starscream would have had no way of knowing about it), it would seem that Skyfire would have been blown up along with the planet when it exploded, and this in turn would demonstrate that Starscream didn't care enough about his friend to spare him from being blasted to smithereens.

The problem is that if we assume this, then we must also assume that Starscream didn't care enough about the other Earth-based Decepticons (Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Reflector) to spare them either, since he didn't give them any warning of what was about to take place. Is Starscream really cold enough to sacrifice his own comrades in order to harvest the energy of the Earth's explosion and become "tyrant of the firmament?" Yes! But I still don't think he deliberately tried to kill them (and by the same token, Skyfire) by withholding a warning from them.

After all, he was initially willing to let Shockwave try to contact Earth, which suggests that he didn't mind letting them in on his plans. But after that, he makes no further effort to inform them that they're about to die, and this in spite of the fact that it apparently doesn't take that long to fly back and forth from Cybertron. (After all, once the timer started counting down from 8 hours Starscream still had time to travel to Cybertron, set up energy collection equipment, and create half of Dr. Arkeville's new cyborg body, a full day's work. Surely he could have sent another Seeker to Earth with a warning in that time). Apparently then, since Starscream chose not to warn the other Decepticons of the impending destruction of Earth, he was willing to let them die by neglect...or was he? As we know, Starscream's plans backfire and Megatron turns up alive. What happens after the episode is over?

Presumably, Starscream would have to give an account of himself to the other Earth Decepticons, who would quite naturally want to know why he didn't bother to warn them that Earth was going to explode. What would his answer to them be in such a scenario? "I could have warned you but I chose not to because I don't care about you"? And their furious response would have been, "You were going to let us die on purpose? So you could be ruler of the universe? When you could have easily warned us?"

There's a word for what soldiers do to leaders like that: "fragging." The word, coined during the Vietnam war, is derived from the practice of tossing a fragmentation grenade into the tent of an unwanted commanding officer during his sleep. Why might soldiers wish to commit such an act? As Wikipedia explains, "Fragging most often involved the murder of a commanding officer...perceived as unpopular, harsh, inept, or overzealous. Many soldiers were not overly keen to go into harm's way, and preferred leaders with a similar sense of self-preservation. If a C.O. was incompetent, fragging the officer was considered a means to the end of self preservation for the men serving under him. Fragging might also occur if a commander freely took on dangerous or suicidal missions, especially if he was deemed to be seeking glory for himself."

Starscream would certainly be an ideal candidate for elimination if he rejected the easy opportunity to save his comrades' lives in the selfish pursuit of his own glory. Killing him could be justified as simple self preservation. Then too, Starscream isn't exactly popular at the best of times. In short, even if Megatron were willing to spare Starscream's life for such a deed, it's doubtful that the other Decepticons would share his willingness. If Starscream did decide to let the Earth Decepticons die for nothing more than his own ambition and lack of interest in their continued survival, he himself would likely be dead within a week for it. (And recall, even the Autobots thought that Starscream was going to bite the big one for his actions this time.) After all, who's going to protect Starscream from assassination attempts by _all_ the personnel on the base? Soundwave, who he was going to let die along with all of his cassettes? Not a chance.

But since Starscream is obviously still very much alive in the next few episodes, he apparently didn't get executed by Megatron or fragged by his subordinates. Well, why not? My guess is that Starscream had a good excuse for why he didn't bother to warn the other Decepticons--namely, that the exponential generator itself would have warned them to flee for their lives before Earth actually exploded. How might this work?

The answer lies in the question of how the exponential generator would have detonated. At one point Starscream describes the catastrophe to come as follows: "In exactly seven hours, fifty-eight minutes, and twenty seconds of your time, this planet will _erupt_ in a cosmic shower of free energy." (Emphasis mine.) According to Dictionary.com, an eruption usually speaks of a violent ejection of matter, as in a volcano or geyser, or of a violent release or bursting forth of something. An explosion, by contrast, is when something bursts apart, flies into pieces, or breaks up violently. An eruption is subtly different from an explosion in that it speaks of something emerging violently from something else, whereas an explosion refers to something bursting violently apart. But Starscream uses both words to describe what will happen to the Earth when the exponential generator reaches infinite capacity (however that works).

Is this merely poetic license on his part, or does it have actual significance? For reasons that will be explained shortly, I think that his choice of words has real meaning. But how would this work? How can you have both an eruption and an explosion? You can't...unless of course one event precedes the other. In other words, when the generator reached critical mass, perhaps there would have been a volcano-like eruption of free energy, followed in a few minutes (5 minutes? 20 minutes?) by the complete annihilation of the planet in a massive explosion. In such a scenario, a transformer who could fly (or use the spacebridge) would be able to see the energy eruption start and flee the planet, thus hopefully surviving the subsequent catastrophic explosion. This would reasonably allow all of the Decepticons and one flying Autobot to survive Earth's destruction, and it would explain why the Decepticons never took revenge on Starscream for supposedly allowing them to be disintegrated.

And in fact, there is some small support for the idea that there would have been advance warning of the explosion in the fact that Starscream is reluctantly willing to go back to Earth to check on his bomb. If he really thought that it could go off at any moment without even a split second of advance notice, I doubt that he would be so willing to go back to Earth to check on it. After all, suppose the timer was merely an hour slow? In such a case Starscream could easily have been caught in the instantaneous explosion and turned into a french fry. No, I think that Starscream knew there would be some kind of warning that the Earth's disintegration was imminent, and would have just turned around and gone right back to Cybertron if he had seen signs that it was about to happen. This scenario is consistent with the fact that Starscream wouldn't pointlessly allow valuable subordinates--or his ex-friend--to die unless they were stupid enough to hang around the erupting planet until it exploded completely. It also explains why the Decepticons never punished him for not warning them that the planet they were standing on was going to blow up. So we see that the episode "Countdown to Extinction" need not necessarily be a barrier to the idea that Starscream still had some significant feelings left for his old friend.

But what about Skyfire? Would he be willing to restore his old friendship with Starscream? Curiously, the answer to this question is almost always taken for granted as "yes" by fanfic writers. Indeed, some writers seem almost to have Skyfire agreeing with Starscream that he was the one at fault for their falling out, which is certainly not true. Why is this? Probably, most writers quite accurately observe that Skyfire has a warm and kind personality, and realize that such people readily forgive others' offenses. However, this logic falters when we consider the full extent of what Starscream did to Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky" and what the Seeker continues to do under Megatron's command and under his own initiative--i.e., to harvest the Earth's energy without regard for the lives of billions of people. Therefore, in the interests of balance, let's examine the question of why Skyfire _wouldn't_ forgive Starscream.

Starscream commits three shocking offenses against Skyfire in "Fire in the Sky," yet in most fanfics Skyfire seems to treat these deeds as water under the bridge. But would Skyfire really forget about what happened to him in that episode? Let's quickly review what Starscream did to him. First, Starscream blasted Skyfire for the mere act of refusing to kill the Autobots and saying that they have done no wrong. Then Starscream walked over Skyfire as he lay there on the snow and told him, "As for you, Skyfire, consider yourself fortunate that you did not end up like your friends." Skyfire might have died then and there if it hadn't been for the care of Ratchet, and Starscream acted like he didn't care a bit. Finally, Starscream strafed the ground by Skyfire in the subsequent air battle. That is a lot to forgive, and I don't think that Skyfire would simply overlook it and act as if it never happened. Would _you_ forgive someone for grievously injuring you and then leaving you there to die? Would you forgive that person if they then tried to finish what they started? Would you ever trust them again? Or would you be afraid of them and nervous in their presence? Is Skyfire really that forbearing and forgiving?

And even if Skyfire could forgive Starscream for almost killing him, would he still be willing to overlook the fact that Starscream would ruthlessly murder an entire planetful of sentient lifeforms in order to advance his own agenda of ruling the universe? Would he be willing to carry on a friendship with someone who is casually committing acts of genocide and plans to keep doing so? Certainly not! As the apostle Paul puts it, "...what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" ("The Bible: New International Version") As long as Starscream continues in his attempts to conquer the universe and kill and enslave other sentient species for their energy, there is simply no way Skyfire would be willing to become friends with him again. Skyfire's kind and self-sacrificing character--the very thing that permits him to forgive offenses so easily--inevitably produces a strong moral code which cannot tolerate or support evil. It's impossible for a dog lover to remain friends with someone who kicks puppies. And it's impossible for Skyfire to remain friends with someone who is constantly trying to perpetrate acts of genocide.

Looking at the problem this way, it becomes readily apparent that the real barrier to a renewed friendship between the two is not Starscream's reticence--we already saw that he might wish to renew their old relationship--but rather Skyfire's unwillingness to accept an advance of friendship from him. And if such an advance was made and spurned, then Starscream would probably be just as furious as he was when Skyfire refused to kill the Autobots in the first place. Is there any hope at all left for their friendship?

Yes, but it would cost Starscream dearly. As we all know, Starscream's ultimate goal is to conquer and rule the universe--after he has become Decepticon leader and defeated the Autobots. If he wanted to regain Skyfire's friendship, he would have to give up his dream of universal domination, since conquering and enslaving other peoples would be unacceptable by Skyfire's moral standards. As for Starscream's other two goals--rule of the Decepticons and defeat of the Autobots--those _might_ be acceptable to Skyfire under certain conditions. For starters, Starscream would have to start playing by Optimus Prime's rules and reform the way the Decepticons treat their occupied territories, prisoners of war, etc. If he did that, Skyfire _might_ permit Starscream to be his friend again-- _if_ Skyfire could overlook Starscream's actions in "Fire in the Sky" and "Countdown to Extinction" (which is questionable), and if Skyfire were somehow able to overlook the fact that Starscream is still trying to kill his Autobot friends as the Autobot-Decepticon civil war rages on--again, not very plausible. Indeed, if they were to renew their friendship under such circumstances, Skyfire would probably lose all of his Autobot friends when they found out about it--a sacrifice he might not be willing to make. So Skyfire would be much more likely to accept Starscream back if he simply left the Decepticons altogether. But would Starscream be willing to give up on the goals which he has worked tirelessly towards for millions of years? Would he be willing to change his ruthless methods and wage war at Optimus Prime's honorable level--or even make peace with the Autobot leader? Or alternatively, would he be willing to completely leave the Decepticons, giving up the treasured job of Decepticon leader to someone else and letting his faction's destiny rest in someone else's hands? Any one of these things--the minimum moral conditions necessary for Skyfire to accept him as a friend again--would constitute a huge sacrifice on Starscream's part.

Yet Starscream really does seem to want a friend. The life he leads as a Decepticon ghost is a lonely one, and it would be particularly so after the end of the cartoon when his closest acquaintances ("close" being a relative term), Skywarp and Thundercracker, are apparently dead. And, recalling Starscream's actions in "Fire on the Mountain," when he turns his back on an angered Thundercracker to check if Skyfire is alive--risking his own life in the process--it becomes apparent that Starscream did on one occasion prioritize his friend's life above his own, the highest sacrifice one can make. So it's actually quite possible Starscream _would_ be willing to give up everything for his friend's sake.

But if Starscream made such a sacrifice, would Skyfire accept it? Perhaps; neither Starscream's earlier act of gunning Skyfire down (and leaving him to die) nor Starscream's attempt to freeze the Earth solid was enough to make Skyfire into Starscream's bitter enemy in "Fire on the Mountain." Apparently, he still saw too much of his old friend in Starscream to act against him at this point. To me, this suggests that Skyfire's memory of their friendship is still strong and sharp--meaning that he might be willing to accept an extended olive branch if certain conditions were met.

There are two other considerations that would tend to enhance or diminish the odds of this happening someday. First, as Skyfire saw more of Starscream's ruthless nature and realized the full extent of the suffering that the Decepticons were inflicting on the human race, he might become hardened against Starscream more than he was initially. This deepening enmity would have been aided by Starscream's constant attacks upon the Autobots and often indirectly upon Skyfire himself. (For example, in "Attack of the Autobots" Starscream helps Megatron reprogram all of the Autobots to be evil, including Skyfire by default.) It is almost inevitable that as a result of these incidents Skyfire would grow more and more unwilling to restore his friendship with Starscream. However, this gradual hardening may have been mitigated or even canceled out entirely by a second consideration.

This second factor is the fact that Skyfire gets to see a _lot_ of examples of good people being turned to evil and then being unwillingly restored to the side of light by their concerned friends. In "The Ultimate Doom," Skyfire watches Sparkplug, who has been placed under hypnochip control, join the Decepticons, only to be subsequently saved and restored to his old self by his son. As the rescue party is heading back to Earth aboard Skyfire, a very sappy scene occurs in Skyfire's cockpit which probably had special significance for him. Sparkplug says, "Thanks, guys, for not giving up on me. Especially you, Spike." And Spike says, "Dad, it's like you taught me. You never quit on the people you love." And Brawn adds, "Mushy, but true." Taken in the context of Skyfire's old friendship with Starscream, these mushy sentiments take on heart-wrenching new meaning. Has Skyfire quit on his best friend? Has he given up on Starscream? If so, do Spike and Sparkplug's sappy words bother him at all?

In another episode, "Autobot Spike," (note: Skyfire doesn't appear in this episode so he may not have been present for these events, but he would have heard about them later) Spike gets put into the body of Autobot X and turns evil--only to be saved and eventually restored by his caring Autobot friends and father. Referring to the fact that a moment ago he was trying to shoot the Autobots with Megatron (endangering his dad's life in the process) Spike says to his dad, "Dad, it was me who put you in danger in the first place. Can you ever forgive me?" And Sparkplug solemnly replies, "Spike, there's nothing to forgive." Again, there's a moral here for Skyfire that was probably unintended. Perhaps Skyfire can imagine a day when Starscream would come to him and ask for forgiveness--and then, like Sparkplug, would he accept the apology?

Finally, in "Attack of the Autobots" Skyfire and most of the other Autobots get reprogrammed to be evil. They go on a rampage until they are saved and restored to their normal selves by the remaining Autobots. In a particularly poignant scene, Skyfire watches Bumblebee trying to save Optimus Prime in spite of the fact that Optimus had previously smashed the little yellow Autobot aside when he tried to prevent the Autobot leader from destroying some jets. Bumblebee shouts to Optimus, "Optimus Prime! I know you're not evil! I believe in you! You've gotta fight it! Don't give in!" Optimus Prime, struggling to resist the reprogramming, cries, "Help me, Bumblebee! Quickly!" When Bumblebee (finally) puts the attitude exchanger on Optimus, restoring him, Optimus actually picks him up and gives him a hug, saying gratefully, "You did it, little friend. You saved me." I wonder what Skyfire was thinking as he watched this scene? Can he still believe in Starscream at all? Does he think that the Decepticon Air Commander could change? Does he imagine that Starscream would later be glad to be saved from his own evil nature?

The theme that runs through all these events is this: Someone who was once good has become a force for evil. They are sought after and saved by their loving friends and/or family in spite of their own resistance. After being saved and restored to their former selves, they are grateful for their rescue and sorry for what they did while they were under the influence of evil.

In light of all these examples, Skyfire certainly knows what his part in such a scenario would be--like Spike, Sparkplug, and Bumblebee, he would be cast in the role of the rescuer who overlooks his friend's cruel deeds and harsh rejection and saves him in spite of himself, thus earning the reward of Starscream's gratitude and renewed friendship. And no doubt if Starscream's problem was something as easy to solve as a case of reprogramming, Skyfire would be willing and eager to take up the role of the rescuer. But unlike the reprogrammed individuals in all these scenarios, who did not act under their own volition, Starscream is a willing force for evil. Skyfire's challenge is not merely to reprogram his friend's mind, but to change it entirely, and there is no sure cure for free will. In light of this, might Skyfire say, "Well, Spike, Sparkplug, and Bumblebee, it's fine for you to be so noble and self-sacrificing--your friends and family were reprogrammed to do evil. But my friend has deliberately chosen it. He tried to kill me and you both of his own free will. He's a lost cause, so why should I have any duty to him anymore?" To this, I think that Optimus Prime would simply say, "This isn't a matter of duty. It's a matter of going beyond the call of duty."

We see this in "War of the Dinobots," when Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge--of their own free will--shoot Optimus Prime and drag him off to Megatron. _That_ was deliberate. Yet Optimus Prime saves Grimlock's life from an exploding meteor anyway, prompting Grimlock to say to the Autobot leader, "Optimus Prime, can you...forgive? Me Grimlock was jealous of you." Again, we see this theme of offense, retrieval-in-spite-of-resistance, and reconciliation. (Skyfire wasn't in this episode either, but again, he would have heard about it later.) If Optimus can overlook what the Dinobots did to him and save Grimlock anyway, what's Skyfire's excuse?

In fact, I don't think that Skyfire was making any excuses at this point. I think he would have very much liked to bring Starscream back to him and restore their friendship, but he lacked the opportunity to do so and probably believed that he could never sway Starscream from his chosen path anyway. Still, he probably held onto the vague hope that somehow, someday, something would happen and (just like Spike, Sparkplug, Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime) he too could be reconciled with his lost friend. Optimus Prime may have encouraged Skyfire, either directly through words or indirectly by his deeds, to develop such a hope. In "The Core," after Devastator chooses to follow Megatron after being briefly reprogrammed to be an Autobot, Chip Chase sadly observes to Optimus, "I guess I was hoping Devastator might join the Autobots for good, but that's probably just a dumb old dream." Optimus tells him, "Hang onto your dreams, Chip. The future is built on dreams. Hang on." Did Optimus ever say a similar thing to Skyfire? It's an intriguing possibility.

One complaint that is commonly voiced about the Autobots' treatment of Skyfire in the cartoon is that they consider him to be "nothing more a taxi." There is certainly support for that view--in fact, based only on the scenes shown in the cartoon this would be the natural conclusion--but there is also indirect evidence that the Autobots valued his other talents as well. We'll begin by looking at the evidence that supports the former view, that he was merely a taxi to them.

First, in "Fire on the Mountain," no sooner do they dig poor Skyfire out of the ice (after he has crashed, gotten buried alive, found out that his friend is the new Dark Lord of the Sith, and learned that the two factions of his planet have been locked in nine million years of destructive war) then, without so much as a "How are you?" Wheeljack tells him they need him to fly them to the Andes mountains. Skyfire responds with a cheerful affirmative. In that episode alone, Skyfire travels from the Arctic Circle to the Autobot base to the Andes mountains to the Autobot base to the Andes and then presumably back to the Autobot base--all of this just after waking up to what must have been the nastiest surprise of his life.

On another occasion ("The Ultimate Doom Part 2") Spike, wanting to go to Cybertron to save his dad, says, "Optimus Prime, let me take Skyfire," as if Skyfire were the family car. (Can you imagine Optimus replying, "Alright Spike, but _this_ time remember to put gas in...") But Optimus says that it's too dangerous and won't let Spike go. Then Wheeljack volunteers to go along, and then Bumblebee volunteers to go along too, and then finally Skyfire pipes up in a positive, cheerful voice, "You can count me in." But no pressure or anything...

Last but not least, in the episode "Attack of the Autobots," when Ratchet sees a reprogrammed-to-be-evil Skyfire flying around, his immediate conclusion is, " _With his speed_ , we might be able to stop of the Decepticons before the rocket launches." (Emphasis mine.) It would have been nice if he had added as an afterthought, "Oh yeah, and we should save him because he's our friend too." The bottom line is that out of the eight episodes in which Skyfire participates, he ends up carrying passengers in seven of them. The cartoon would seem to indicate that his role among the Autobots was primarily transportational.

But let's look at the flip side of the coin. Did the Autobots value Skyfire for anything other than his vehicle mode? I think so. Skyfire eventually disappears completely from the show (he is last seen in the episode "Day of the Machines"), and three new transformers appear. Omega Supreme is the obvious replacement for a large, strong transport vehicle whose ex-friend (or ex-friends in Omega's case) is/are now committed Decepticons. (Though why you would want to replace the latter aspect, I'm not sure.)  The other two replacements are more subtle: Beachcomber and Perceptor. Their introductions in the episode "Dinobot Island Part 2" show that their skill sets and personalities broadly overlap those of Skyfire.

Speaking to Chip and Spike, Beachcomber introduces himself, "Like, if you need geology type info, hey, just call on yours truly, Beachcomber. I dig projects that don't require conflict, you know." (Note the bad geology pun. Geologists love bad puns. Anyway.) Who else do we know that possesses a knowledge of geology and doesn't like violence? Skyfire, of course. It is rather interesting to note that the Autobots thought that both Skyfire's geology specialty _and_ his laid back, peace-loving nature needed to be replaced, a curious fact that we'll look into later. Skyfire's knowledge of the natural sciences also probably proved useful to the Autobots because they had to deal with exploding meteors ("War of the Dinobots"), Decepticon plots to suck the energy out of the earth's interior ("Fire in the Sky," "Fire on the Mountain," and after he leaves, "The Core." They don't give up, do they?), erupting volcanos, tsunamis, orbital mechanics ("The Ultimate Doom"), and a Decepticon plot to drain the energy out of the sun ("Changing Gears")--all scenarios in which a background in natural science would be useful for predicting dire natural consequences and counteracting them. Starscream does the same thing for Megatron all the time, but Megatron just ignores him. The second aspect of Skyfire's character that Beachcomber replaces--i.e., his easy going, conflict-disliking personality--was probably sought after for the sake of the Autobots' relationship with the humans.

It is probable that Skyfire got along very well with the humans. In the course of his career as an explorer he must have gained extensive experience interacting with aliens and as a result was able to quickly grasp human customs, taboos, and psychology, making him a natural crosscultural liason. In addition, humans could probably relate to him better as a civilian than they could to the rest of the Autobots. Like the majority of American citizens, Skyfire has spent most of his life as a nonfighter, and would have been able to see things from their perspective better than his warlike colleagues.

The Autobots probably thought that this shared civilian perspective was what the humans found appealing about Skyfire, perhaps not realizing that his prior experience in interspecies communication was a major key to his success. Therefore, they concluded that Beachcomber would make a good replacement since the little blue guy dislikes fighting and is the ideal size for communicating with humans. On a side note, I think that Skyfire would probably have liked Beachcomber. They share a common interest in geology and hold similar views on conflict, and they probably would have had a good time traveling around Earth together and peering under rocks. As it is, I think Skyfire probably missed Starscream's companionship a great deal while he went about his scientific studies on Earth.

That brings us to Skyfire's second replacement, Perceptor. In "Dinobot Island Part 2" Perceptor introduces himself to Chip and Spike as follows, "And if you need a true scientist to _explain_ Beachcomber to you, don't hesitate to call on me, Perceptor." (Emphasis mine.) What aspect of Skyfire does Perceptor replace? His ability to _teach_ , to make Cybertronian scientific knowledge understandable and interesting to the uninitiated. Perceptor is later seen teaching Spike about the universe ("The Revenge of Bruticus"), and he is frequently shown explaining technology and science to others. It is likely that Skyfire too performed this role while he was on Earth, teaching humans and Autobots alike about the natural and biological sciences.

The question of why Brawn initially reacted so badly to Perceptor and his scientific function is a curious one considering how well Skyfire and Brawn appeared to get along. Brawn's reaction may tie in with the fact that Skyfire eventually left the Earth-based Autobot team. Perhaps Brawn considered Skyfire a coward for leaving and transferred his anger onto Perceptor. Or perhaps Brawn normally considers all scientists sissy cowards and Skyfire was merely the exception to this rule because a.) he proved early on that he would die for his principles and b.) he saved Brawn's life from Megatron at one point ("Fire on the Mountain"). And indeed, once Perceptor performed a similar deed, he was accepted too. It is nonetheless interesting to note that Brawn is frequently seen working with Skyfire, for they appear together in no less than four out of the eight episodes in which Skyfire takes part. It is possible that they were assigned together on purpose, with Skyfire intended to counterbalance Brawn's aggressive, abrasive tendencies. They may have eventually become real friends, and in light of this it is not improbable that Brawn was upset when Skyfire left.

Skyfire probably considered Optimus Prime a close friend. We see this to some extent in "Fire on the Mountain" when Optimus pats Skyfire on the nose. They seem to have compatible personalities, and both have the whole noble, self sacrificing, others-centered, war-is-awful-but-necessary thing going on. In light of this I may surprise you by saying that one of the main reasons Skyfire would have grown close to Optimus is that they fought with each other constantly. Not for real, of course! What I mean is that Optimus would probably have been responsible for the hand-to-hand combat portion of Skyfire's training as an Autobot warrior. After all, Skyfire probably knew little about fighting when he first joined the Autobots, and in lieu of the Cybertron War Academy the Autobot elite themselves probably taught Skyfire what they knew about combat. But only Optimus Prime and the Dinobots would be comparably sized sparring partners, and the Dinobots were neither best teachers nor experienced warriors. So, that leaves Optimus. The Autobot leader was probably a major influence on Skyfire during his time with the Autobots.

But how do we know that Skyfire left the Autobots? For one thing, he stops appearing on the show. The last episode he shows up in is "Day of the Machines," in which he gets captured by the Decepticons. Another, stronger indication that he left the Autobots is Optimus Prime's statement in "The Secret of Omega Supreme" that Omega is "the only other Autobot who can fly into outer space" (with Cosmos being the "other Autobot" referred to in the quote). Since Skyfire is a space capable jet, we must assume that he is not with the Autobots on Earth anymore--either he died and we never found out about it (unlikely, but possible), or he left the planet Earth to serve the Autobot cause on Cybertron or another planet (like Devcon in "The Gambler"), or he left the Autobot faction altogether.

But why did he leave and where did he go? Again, there are various possibilities. He may have left because he didn't like to fight; in the episode "Fire in the Sky," he was shown to be a reluctant combatant, and possibly this reluctance grew until he finally decided that he didn't want to be a part of the war anymore. Even when he was a Decepticon fighting against the supposedly evil Autobots, he regretted what he had to do; this attitude likely carried over to when he was an Autobot fighting the evil Decepticons. Another possibility is that he found the pressure of having others constantly rely upon him for their continued survival to be too stressful--he may have disliked bearing that much responsibility and making choices that could potentially cost others their lives. A third possibility is that he didn't want to be put in a situation where he would have to fight against Starscream again. A fourth possibility is that he had hoped to bring Starscream around, but eventually gave it up as hopeless. Or, Skyfire's reason for leaving may have been external; perhaps he was simply assigned somewhere else in the Autobot war machine, ferrying energon to the resistance, scouting out nearby energy resources, or manning some off-planet energon processing station. Any or all of these possibilities could explain why Skyfire might have disappeared.

Supposing that he did not continue in active service with the Autobots after he departed, what would he do instead? The obvious thought would be that he would continue his exploration career, but it would be dangerous to do this without backup, and it is dubious that Skyfire would want to risk being forcibly put into another nine million year nap without anyone available to even _try_ to rescue him. Skyfire couldn't go back to Cybertron either, since it was under Decepticon control. In the end, what he did after leaving Earth (for whatever reason) is a mystery.

Skyfire's toy has introduced a question about the purpose of his body design into the Transformers community--i.e., is he a fighter jet or a transport? I will argue that he is a transport, but first an examination of the toy and its accompanying biography is in order (not that I consider the bio canonical, or even accurate, but its inaccuracy serves to illustrate a point). First, the toy. It is generally agreed that Skyfire's toy doesn't look much like his appearance in the cartoon. This is because his toy is in reality a repainted Super Veritech or Super Valkyrie jet, a fictional fighter jet from the Japanese anime show Robotech. A summary of the contrasts between the toy's tech specs and Skyfire's demonstrated capabilities follows.

We read in the tech specs that Jetfire (the unassonant name of Skyfire's toy) has a strength of 6; however, in the cartoon episode "Fire in the Sky," Skyfire picks up Megatron (strength 10) and throws him effortlessly. (Ironically enough, Megatron had observed earlier that "With his [Skyfire's] size and probable _strength_ , he will make an excellent Decepticon.") Jetfire is also shown to have a rank of 10, which would be unlikely for Skyfire considering that during the show he was the newest and most inexperienced Autobot on the team. Jetfire has "4 particle-beam cannons and heat-seeking photon missiles," while Skyfire has only two apparently standard cannons and missiles of unknown type (they do seek, but nothing indicates that they are special "photon" missiles). Jetfire is described as being "Prone to mechanical failures due to advanced technology." Skyfire would initially have been very, very obsolete, since Cybertronian technology probably advanced a teensy bit in the nine million years since he went offline. Jetfire's function is listed as an Air Guardian, but Skyfire considers himself a scientist and does very little aerial warfare.

In fact, Skyfire fights just four or five aerial "battles" in the cartoon--one with Starscream in which he doesn't fire a single shot ("Fire in the Sky"), one against an unsuspecting human military aircraft while he was reprogrammed to be evil ("Attack of the Autobots"), one with a couple of anonymous Decepticon Seekers on Cybertron ("The Ultimate Doom Part 3"), one in which the Insecticons cling to his wings and he jerks them around and has to be saved by Wheeljack ("A Plague of Insecticons"), and apparently another offscreen battle with two of the Insecticons in that same episode, which occurs at the same time that Shrapnel remotely controls Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Skyfire also dodges some incoming missiles in "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," but that's a fairly minor engagement.

At no point does he fight in a real honest-to-goodness dogfight with Starscream, Thundercracker, or Skywarp, the three Decepticons whom one would expect to be his chief nemeses. The fact is, he probably would have failed miserably had he tried. Skyfire's body design--a cargo hold, a cockpit with enough room to comfortably seat several people, and several doors for vehicular and personal entry into his hold--is geared totally towards transport, not dogfighting. He is a massive, heavy jet, presents a broad target, and isn't very streamlined--the latter characteristic being an adaptation for space travel, in which air resistance is of no concern.

Contrast this with the Seeker design, which is nimble, streamlined, and wastes no space. Skyfire is the jet equivalent of a fat bumblebee, while the Seekers are like fast, maneuverable wasps. Skyfire is designed to carry stuff. The Seekers are designed to kill other jets in the air and strafe targets on the ground. Skyfire is armed--it would be foolish to venture into unknown space without some sort of defense--but aerial combat is not his body shell's primary function. The very same characteristics that make him an excellent cargo jet make him a poor fighter jet. Jetfire's tech specs can safely be ignored.

Skyfire is absolutely covered with doors (there are no less than five different ways to board him!) and accompanying these entry points are numerous inner compartments. I have attempted to compile a complete description of these to get a better picture of his inner space. (If you bore easily, feel free to skip this part.) In "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," a party of Autobots enters through a yawning door (with ramp) that opens into a front-facing panel which sticks out just beneath his nose. In that same episode, you get a good view of his hold; it is colored "Cybertron purple" and has an angular ceiling that approximates an arch shape. A bench runs down each side of the rectangular space, and in the front is a wall equipped with a darkened screen in the middle. This screen is apparently related to his holographic emitter device, since it turns green and staticy when he generates a hologram of Cybertron. Below this screen is a "domino" with eight white buttons, while above the screen is another domino with four black buttons which pulse white in time with Skyfire's voice, just as Wheeljack's "ears" do.

Skyfire can produce holograms, but not ones that are as good as Hound's. Skyfire's holograms are see-through a la Star Wars, whereas Hound's holos are realistic and fully opaque. Why the difference? Possibly Skyfire has the nine million year old version of the hologram projector. Or alternatively, perhaps he's using a cheaper and lower quality device.

Skyfire has one small side window on the right hand side of his hold; there is apparently no corresponding left hand window. The interior of Skyfire's cockpit is seen in the same episode; he has two blue bench-like seats with enough room to fit two people (small transformers or humans) in each. In "The Ultimate Doom Part 3," Skyfire is shown to have a side door leading into a narrow room with a flat ceiling, a floor of grey tiles, purple walls, and a vertical bar off to the side--apparently this compartment is different from the hold area which was first shown in "The Ultimate Doom Part 2." Another door is shown in "A Plague of Insecticons," in which the two sides of a panel lying just under the base of his wing retract diagonally apart in a rather unique door mechanism that would probably make it awkward for people trying to board him (a fact which the animators seem to have discovered too late, as seen by the weird animation mistake that occurs at this point). One final door is shown in "Fire on the Mountain," when Skyfire opens a panel on his belly which doubles as a ramp. This door leads to two corridors big enough for Optimus Prime to drive down. There is also a compartment connecting to a window on Skyfire's port side, although how this compartment connects to the rest of his inner chambers is uncertain ("The Immobilizer").

In jet mode, Skyfire has antigravs that allow him to take off and land vertically and hover in place. He never uses this ability in robot mode, so presumably it exists only in vehicular mode (possibly the parts that give him this ability are tucked away into subspace or not aligned correctly when in robot mode) but on one occasion he is shown to use foot thrusters briefly when coming in for a landing. In this case the flat bottoms of his feet were wholly replaced by blasting orange fire.

Skyfire also has what are referred to as "missile shields" which can be raised and lowered. We know this because Wheeljack shouts, "Skyfire, missile shields up!" when three surface-to-air missiles come streaking upwards to intercept him as he flies towards Cybertron. Skyfire thinks that the shields would waste too much energy, replying, "Can't waste the energy. Hold on, we'll outrun 'em," so apparently the shields are fairly energy intensive.

Skyfire has landing gear, but he seldom uses it for landings; instead, he uses it for take-offs or rests upon it while being boarded or disembarked from. Skyfire has very exciting landings. He has been shown partially transforming out of jet mode so as to land sliding on his feet ("A Plague of Insecticons"); skidding through the jungle on his belly ("The Ultimate Doom Part 3"); and half-transforming in the air and hovering to let his passengers out so that he can land on his feet ("A Plague of Insecticons"). Given the fact that he always gets rid of his passengers before transforming, one wonders if it is impossible for him to transform with a hold full of cargo or if he simply avoids doing it because it is inadvisable to shunt living beings into subspace (or wherever it is that transformers keep their weapons and other impossibly large equipment).

We know little about Skyfire's internal circuitry beyond the fact that he has "cybermoter relays," "transform circuitry," a "memory monitor" and "infocenters." It is interesting to note that he apparently keeps his infocenter monitor in his knee. The infocenter seems to be companion to the memory monitor, which is a rather cool device that probably serves a function akin to Soundwave's chest monitor. Unlike Soundwave's monitor, however, the memory monitor's main function is apparently to display Skyfire's stored memories. Such a device would be helpful for teaching; it could be used to illustrate examples and explain concepts that are difficult to describe in words. It would also be a time-saver when describing things seen during exploration to Starscream. Instead of saying, "I saw this incredible huge green lizard with three big blue, glowing compound eyes and a nasty-looking horn on its nose hopping around," Skyfire could simply lift up the cover on his memory monitor and show Starscream what he saw--sort of like a forehead smartphone, though it is more likely that Cybertronians simply send pictures wirelessly to one another mind-to-mind. It could be that the memory monitor was used to communicate with the alien races that Skyfire encountered while exploring.

Skyfire's size and height are variable, making it hard to tell how big he actually is. In "The Ultimate Doom Part 2," he is shown at one point to stand three times taller than Wheeljack, who could have easily perched upon his shoulder like a parrot. In a later scene, Wheeljack is shown to stand at Skyfire's own shoulder height. There is really no standard size for Skyfire; he was simply drawn as big or as small as needed to fit in with a scene at any particular moment. What _is_ certain is that Skyfire is bigger in jet mode than in robot mode. As a jet he is mostly hollow inside and therefore seems bulkier than he is, but that is only part of the reason why he is bigger in jetmode. Just as Soundwave and Megatron shrink when they transform to their altmodes, Skyfire grows. Although the effect is not as dramatic for him as for Megatron or Soundwave, it can nevertheless be clearly seen. His pieces rapidly shrink as he transforms to robot mode, with some changing size more than others.

Skyfire's unusual stature sometimes made for awkward camera angles as the animators tried to find ways of fitting him into the picture with smaller transformers. Often all you can see of Skyfire is his lower body. (The same awkwardness often happens to Spike and Sparkplug when they're shown with bigger Autobots.) When the animators couldn't fit Skyfire in, sometimes they decided to eliminate him altogether. At the end of "A Plague of Insecticons," there is a group pic of all the Autobots and humans standing together at the oil rig as if for a big family photo--but Skyfire is not present, although he was there earlier. Actually, at this point Skyfire was probably crashed somewhere. How do we know this? Well, right before Skyfire disappears from the battle, Shrapnel briefly shoots a ray at him that looks like his "remote control" override wave weapon. Presumably this is the reason that Skyfire wasn't there at the end; somehow Shrapnel's action prevented him from coming back. But in such a short time, what could Shrapnel have done to disable him? Probably, he just sent Skyfire flying straight into a building. Owch?

Skyfire is predominantly white with decorative red and dark blue accents (in short, he's red, white, and blue--very patriotic). The stripe and the "shape-inside-a-matching-shape" decorations seem to be recurring themes in his paint scheme; he has broad red stripes down his wings, a short red stripe across his nose just behind/above his cockpit, a white stripe around the top of his red jetpack, and what amounts to a blue stripe over the top of his head in the form of his colored head crest. His missiles also feature alternating bands of blue and white. The shape-inside-a-shape motif occurs twice in his paint job. The first instance takes the form of two red "L" shaped patches that decorate his "L" shaped hips, while the second instance is the square patch of white on the square front of his dark blue head crest. Surprisingly, the animators get Skyfire's coloring wrong from time to time; in "The Ultimate Doom Part 3," Skyfire is briefly colored blue when he's pursuing the Cybertronian Seekers. In "Fire on the Mountain," the animators color him like Skywarp when Starscream and Thundercracker are dragging him into the interior of the pyramid. It appears that no one is safe from "Seeker Syndrome," not even Skyfire.

So there you have it: more than you ever wanted to know about Skyfire. A teacher, a scientist, an explorer, the friend of Starscream, an Autobot warrior and a cargo jet--truly a fascinating character in the Transformers universe.

 

**Sources:**

Lewis and Clark's Historic Trail: http://www.lewisclark.net/

Wikipedia on fragging: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragging

David Kuzminski quote: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=284914&postcount=19

Jetfire's tech specs: http://www.ntfa.net/ntfa/techspecs/index.php?cat=Gen1&group=AutoAN&char=Jetfire

_Shadows on the Grass_ , by Isak Dinesen

_Fly for your Life_ , by Larry Forrester

_De Amicitia_ , by Cicero (http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_cic_friendship.htm)

The Bible: New International Version


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